IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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id.6 


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Photographic 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

' 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

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sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
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d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  ^•^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED ").  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END '), 
whichever  applies. 

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beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmds  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichd,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  I'anfile  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  hnut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illur.trent  la  mdthode. 


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V 


FIGHTING  THE  WHALES ; 


OR, 


DoiDis  anft  Mim  on  a  FisMni  Crnise. 


BY 


11.  M.  BALLANTYNE, 


?'  (( 


AUTHOR   OP    "DOG   CRDSOE,         "GORILLA    UUNTERS,    '    "WILD 
MAN   OP  TUE  WEST,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

POETER    &    COATES. 

1869. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. — In  Trouble,  to  begin  with     ...  $ 

II.— At  Sea 18 

III.— Our  First  Battle 32 

IV. — "  Cutting  in  the  Blubber"  and  "Try- 
ing OUT  the  Oil" 44 

V. — A  Storm,  a  Man  overboard,  and  a 

Rescue 56 

VI. — The  Whale— Fighting  Bulls,  etc.     .  66 

VII.— Tom's  Wisdom— Another  great  Battle  76 

VLll.— Death  on  the  Sea 96 

IX. — Keeping  the  Sabbath 113 

X. — News  from  Home — A  Gam 121 

XI. — Return  Homb 135 


I* 


LIST   OP   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Catohing  A  Shark— (/-row^tVpiW) '*" 

A  Dive  for  Life 

48 

Laying  down  the  Law 

•     .    .     t    69 

fclMAsafip  BY  A  Spbrm  Whalb •      .    .    .    W 


FIGHTING    THE    WHALES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IN  TROUBLE,  TO  BEGIN  WITH. 

riinERE  are  few  tiling's  in  this  world  that 
-■-  have  filled  me  with  so  much  astonish- 
ment as  the  fixct  that  man  can  kill  a  whale ! 
That  a  fish,  more  than  sixty  feet  long,  and 
thirty  feet  round  the  body  ;  with  the  bulk  of 
three  hundred  fat  oxen  rolled  into  one  ;  with 
the  strength  of  many  hundreds  of  horses ;  able 
to  swim  at  a  rate  that  would  carry  it  right 
round  the  world  in  twenty -three  days ;  that 
can  smash  a  boat  to  atoms  with  one  slap  of 
its  tail;  and  stave  in  the  planks  of  a  ship 
with  one  blow  of  its  ,'hick  skull ; — that  such 
a  monster  can  be  caught  and  killed  by  man, 
is  most  wonderful  to  hear  of,  but  I  can  tell 
from  experience  that  it  is  much  more  wonder- 
ful to  see. 

There  is  a  wise  saying  which  I  have  often 
thought  much  upon.    It  is  this :  "  Knowledge 

(5) 


i 


PIOHTING   THE   IVHALES. 


i 


I   : 


'■% 


is  power.*'  Man  is  but  a  feeble  creature, 
and  if  he  had  to  depend  on  his  own  bodily 
strength  alone,  he  could  make  no  head  against 
even  the  ordinary  brutes  in  this  world.  But 
the  knowledge  which  has  been  given  to  him 
by  his  Maker  has  clothed  man  with  great 
power,  so  that  he  is  more  than  a  match  for 
the  fiercest  beast  in  the  forest,  or  the  largest 
fish  in  the  sea.  Yet,  with  all  his  knowledge, 
with  all  his  experience,  and  all  his  power, 
the  killing  of  a  great  old  sperm  whale  costs 
man  a  long,  tough  battle,  sometimes  it  even 
costs  him  his  life. 

It  is  a  long  time  now  since  I  took  to  fight- 
ing the  whales.  I  have  been  at  it,  man  and 
boy,  for  nigh  forty  years,  and  many  a  won- 
derful sight  have  I  seen  ;  many  a  desperate 
battle  have  I  fought  in  the  fisheries  of  the 
North  and  South  Seas. 

Sometimes,  when  I  sit  in  the  chimney- 
corner,  of  a  winter  evening,  smoking  my 
pipe  with  my  old  messmate  Tom  Lokins,  I 
stare  into  the  fire  and  think  of  the  days  gone 
by  till  I  forget  where  I  am,  and  go  on  think- 
ing so  hard  that  the  flames  seem  to  turn  into 
melting-fires,  and  the  bars  of  the  grate  into 


FICHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


dead  fish,  and  the  smoke  into  sails  and  rig- 
ging, and  I  go  to  work  cutting  up  the  blubber 
and  stirring  the  oil-pots,  or  pulling  the  bow- 
oar  and  driving  the  harpoon  at  such  a  rate 
that  I  can't  help  giving  a  shout,  which  causes 
Tom  to  start  and  cry : — 

"  Hallo !  Bob"  (my  name  is  Bob  Ledbury, 
you  see).     "Ilallo!  Bob,  wot's  the  matter?" 

To  which  I  reply,  "  Tom,  can  it  all  be 
true  ?" 

'*  Can  wot  be  true  ?  "  says  he,  with  a  stare 
of  surprise — for  Tom  is  getting  into  his  do- 
tage now. 

And  then  I  chuckle  and  tell  him  I  was 
only  thinking  of  old  times,  and  so  he  falls  to 
smoking  again,  and  I  to  staring  at  the  fire, 
and  thinking  as  hard  as  ever. 

The  way  in  which  I  was  first  led  to  go 
after  the  whales  was  curious.  This  is  how 
it  happened. 

About  forty  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy 
of  nearly  fifteen  years  of  age,  I  lived  with 
my  mother  in  one  of  the  sea-port  towns  of 
England.  There  was  great  distress  in  the 
town  at  that  time,  and  many  of  the  hands 
were  out  of  work.     My  employer,  a  black- 


' 


8 


FIGHTING   THiJ   WHALES. 


smith,  had  just  died,  and  for  more  than  six 
weeks  I  had  not  been  able  to  get  employ- 
ment or  to  earn  a  farthing.  This  caused  me 
great  distress,  for  my  father  had  died  without 
leaving  a  penny  in  the  world,  and  m}^  mother 
depended  on  me  entirely.  The  money  I  had 
saved  out  of  my  wages  was  soon  spent,  and 
one  morning  when  I  sat  down  to  breakfast, 
my  mother  looked  across  the  table  and  said 
in  a  thoughtful  voice, 

"  Eobert,  dear,  this  meal  has  cost  us  our 
last  halfpenny." 

My  mother  was  old  and  frail,  and  her  voice 
very  gentle ;  she  was  the  most  trustful,  un- 
complaining woman  I  ever  knew. 

I  looked  up  quickly  into  her  face  as  she 
spoke.  "  All  the  money  gone,  mother  ?" 

''  Ay,  all.  It  will  be  hard  for  you  to  go 
without  your  dinner,  Robert,  dear." 

"It  will  be  harder  for  you,  mother,"  j 
cried,  striking  the  table  with  my  fist ;  then 
a  lum|3  rose  in  my  throat  and  almost  choked 
me.     I  could  not  utter  another  word. 

It  was  with  difficulty  I  managed  to  eat  the 
little  food  that  was  before  me.  After  break- 
fast  I  rose  hastily  and  rushed  out  of  the 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


house,  determined  that  I  would  get  my  mothe? 
her  dinner,  even  if  I  should  have  to  beg  for 
it.  But  I  must  confess  that  a  sick  feeling 
came  over  me  when  I  thought  of  begging. 

Hurrying  along  the  crowded  streets  with- 
out knowing  vary  well  what  I  meant  to  do, 
I  at  last  came  to  an  abrupt  halt  at  the  end 
of  the  pier.  Here  I  went  up  to  several 
people  and  offered  my  services  in  a  wild  sort 
of  way.  They  must  have  thought  that  I  was 
drunk,  for  nearly  all  of  them  said  gruffly 
that  they  did  not  want  me. 

Dinner  time  drew  near,  but  no  one  had 
given  me  a  job,  and  no  wonder,  for  the  way 
in  which  I  tried  to  get  one  was  not  likely  to 
be  successful.  At  last  I  resolved  to  beg. 
Observing  a  fat,  red-faced  old  gentleman 
coming  along  the  pier,  I  made  up  to  him 
boldlv.  He  carried  a  cane  with  a  lur^e  "rold 
knob  on  the  top  of  it.  That  gave  me  hope, 
''  for  uf  course,"  thought  T,  "  he  must  be  rich." 
His  nose,  which  was  exactly  the  color  and 
shape  of  the  gold  knob  on  his  cane,  was  stuck 
in  the  centre  of  a  round  good-natured  coun- 
tenance, the  mouth  of  which  was  large  and 
firm ;  the  eyes  bright  and  blue.     He  frowned 


10 


FIGHTING   THE   WiIALES. 


as  I  went  forward  hat  in  hand ;  but  I  was 
not  to  be  driven  back ;  the  thought  of  my 
starving  mother  gave  me  power  to  crush 
down  my  rising  shame.  Yet  I  had  no  reason 
to  be  ashamed.  I  was  willing  to  work,  if 
only  I  could  have  got  employment. 

Stopping  in  front  of  the  old  gentleman,  I 
was  about  to  speak  when  I  observed  him 
quietly  button  up  his  breeches  pocket.  The 
blood  rushed  to  my  face,  and  turning  quickly 
on  my  heel,  I  walked  away  without  uttering 
a  word. 

"Hallo!"  shouted  a  gruff  voice  just  as  I 
was  moving  away. 

I  turned  and  observed  that  the  shout  was 
uttered  by  a  broad  rough-looking  jack-tar,  a 
man  of  about  two  or  three  and  thirty,  who 
had  been  sitting  all  the  forenoon  on  an  old 
cask  smoking  his  pipe  and  basking  in  the 
sun. 

'* Hallo!"  said  he  again. 

"Well,"  said  I. 

"  Wot  d^e  mean,  youngster,  by  goin'  on  in 
that  there  fashion  all  the  mornin,'  a-both-erin' 
everybody,  and  makin'  a  fool  o'  yourself  like 
that?  eh?" 


FIGUTING   THE    WUALES. 


11 


''What's  that  to  you?"  said  I  savagely, 
for  my  heart  was  sore  and  heavy,  and  I  could 
not  stand  the  interference  of  a  stranger. 

"Oh!  it's  nothiu'  to  me  of  course,"  said 
the  sailor,  picking  his  pipe  quietly  with  his 
clasp-knife;  ''but  come  here,  boy,  I've  some- 
thin'  to  say  to  ye." 

"  Well,  what  is  it  ?"  said  I,  going  up  to 
him  somewhat  sulkily. 

The  man  looked  at  me  gravely  through 
the  smoke  of  his  pipe,  and  said,  "  Your'e  in  a 
passion,  my  young  back,  that's  ail ;  and  in 
case  you  didn't  know  it,  I  thought  I'd  tell  ye." 

I  burst  into  a  lit  of  laughter.  "Well,  I 
believe  you're  not  far  wrong  ;  but  I'm  better 


n 


now. 

"Ah !  that's  rigliL,"  said  the  sailor  with  an 
approving  nod  of  his  head,  "always  confess 
when  you're  in  the  wrong.  Kow,.  younker, 
let  me  give  you  a  bit  of  advice.  Never  get 
into  a  passion  if  you  can  help  it,  and  if  you 
can't  help  it  get  out  of  it  as  fast  as  possible,  and 
if  you  can't  get  out  of  it,  just  give  a  great  roar 
to  let  off  the  steam  and  turn  about  and  run. 
There's  nothing  like  that.  Passion  han't  got 
legs.     It  can't  hold  on  to  a  foUer  when  heV 


12 


FiaHTlNQ   THE   WHALES. 


runnin'.  If  you  keep  it  up  till  you  almost 
split  your  timbers,  passion  has  no  chance. 
It  must  go  a  starn.  Now,  lad,  I've  been 
watchin'  ye  all  the  mornin,'  and  I  see  there's 
a  screw  loose  somewhere.  If  you'll  tell  me 
wot  it  is,  see  if  I  don't  help  you  I" 

The  kind  frank  way  in  which  this  was 
said  quite  won  my  heart,  so  I  sat  down  on  the 
old  cask,  and  told  the  sailor  all  my  sorrows. 

''Boy,"  said  he,  when  I  had  finished,  "I'll 

put  you  in  the  way  o'  helpin'  your  mother.     I 

•can  get  you  a  berth  in  my  ship,  if  you're 

willin'  to  take  a  trip  to  the  whale  fishery  of 

■the  South  Seas." 

'*  And  who  will  look  after  my  mother  when 
I'm  away  ?"  Sidd  I. 

The  sailor  looked  perplexed  at  the  ques- 
tion. 

'*  Ah!  that's  a  puzzler,"  he  replied,  knock- 
ing the  ashes  out  of  his  pipe.  "  Will  you 
take  me  to  your  mother's  house,  lad  ?" 

"  Willingly,"  said  I,  and  jumping  up,  I  led 
the  way.  As  we  turned  to  go,  I  observed 
that  the  old  gentleman  with  the  gold-headed 
cane  was  leaning  over  the  rail  of  the  pier 
.at  a  short  distance  from  us.     A  feeling  of 


FIGHTING   THE    WHALES. 


18 


anger  instantly  rose  witliin  me,  and  I  ex- 
claimed, loud  enough  for  him  to  hear — 

^'  I  do  believe  that  stingy  old  chap  has  been 
listening  to  every  word  we  have  been  saying  1" 

I  thought  I  observed  a  frown  on  the  sailor's 
brow  as  I  said  this,  but  he  made  no  remark, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  we  were  walking  rapidly 
through  the  streets.  My  companion  stopped 
at  one  of  those  stores  so  common  in  seaport 
towns,  whore  one  can  buy  almost  ai]ything, 
from  a  tallow  candle  to  a  brass  cannon.  Here 
he  purchased  a  pound  of  tea,  a  pound  of  sugar, 
a  pound  of  butter,  and  a  small  loaf, — all  of 
which  he  thrust  into  the  huge  pockets  of  his 
coat.  He  had  evidently  no  idea  of  propor- 
tion or  of  household  aftairs.  It  was  a  simple, 
easy  way  of  settling  the  matter,  to  get  a 
pound  of  everything. 

In  a  short  time  we  reached  our  house,  a 
very  old  one,  in  a  poor  neighborhood,  and 
entered  my  mother's  room.  She  was  sitting 
at  the  table  when  we  went  in,  with  a  large 
Bible  before  her,  and  a  pair  of  horn-spectacles 
on  her  nose.  I  could  see  that  she  had  been 
out  gathering  coals  and  cinders  during  my 
absence,  for  a  good  fire  burned  in  the  grate 


14 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES 


(■ 


and  the  tea  kettle  was  singing  cheerily 
thereon. 

"I've  brought  a  friend  to  see  you,  mother," 
said  I. 

'^  Good-day,  mistress,"  said  the  sailor, 
bluntly,  sitting  down  on  a  stool  near  the  fire. 
"  You  seem  to  be  goin'  to  have  your  tea." 

"I  expect  to  have  it  soon,"  replied  my 
mother. 

"  Indeed !"  said  I,  in  surprise.  "  Have  you 
anything  in  the  kettle?" 

''  Nothing  but  water,  my  son." 

"Has  anybody  brought  you  anything, 
then,  since  I  went  out?"  * 

''Nobody." 

"  Why,  then,  mistress,"  broke  in  the  sea- 
man, "how  can  you  expect  to  have  your  tea 
BO  soon?" 

My  mother  took  off'  her  spectacles,  looked 
calmly  in  the  man's  face,  laid  her  hand  on 
the  Bible,  and  said,  "  Because  I  have  been  a 
widow  woman  these  three  years,  and  never 
once  in  all  that  time  have  I  gone  a  single 
day  without  a  meal.  When  the  usual  hour 
name  I  put  on  my  kettle  to  boil,  for  this 
Word  tells  me  that  'the  Lord  will  provide.' 
[  expect  my  tea  to-night." 


FIGHTINa   THE   WHALES. 


15 


The  sailor's  face  expressed  puzzled  aston- 
ishment at  these  words,  and  he  continued  to 
reirard  my  mother  with  a  look  of  wonder  as 
be  drew  ibrtli  his  supplies  of  food  and  laid 
them  on  tlie  table. 

In  a  short  time  we  were  all  enjoying  a  cup 
of  tea,  and  talking  about  the  wliale  fishery, 
and  the  difHeulty  of  my  going  away  while 
my  mother  was  dependent  on  me.  At  last 
the  sailor  rose  to  leave  us.  Taking  a  five- 
pound  note  from  his  pocket,  he  laid  it  on  the 
table  and  said — 

"  Mistress,  this  is  all  I  have  in  the  world, 
but  I've  got  neither  family  nor  friends,  and 
I'm  bound  for  the  South  Seas  in  six  days; 
80,  if  you'll  take  it,  you're  welcome  to  it, 
and  if  your  son  Bob  can  manage  to  cast  loose 
from  you  without  leaving  you  to  sink,  I'll 
take  him  aboard  the  ship  that  I  sail  in.  He'll 
always  find  me  at  the  Bull  and  Griffin,  in  the 
High  Street,  or  at  the  end  of  the  pier." 

While  the  sailor  was  speaking,  I  observed 
a  figure  standing  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  room 
near  the  door,  and  on  looking  more  closely, 
I  found  that  it  was  the  old  gentleman  with 
the  nose  like  his  cane  knob.  Seeing  that  he 
was  observed,  he  came  forward  and  said — 
2* 


16 


FIOHTINa    THE   WHALES. 


"I  trust  that  you  will  forgive  my  coming 
here  without  invitation;  but  I  happened  to 
overhear  part  of  the  conversation  between 
your  son  and  this  seaman,  and  I  am  willing 
to  help  you  over  your  little  difficulty  if  you 
will  allow  me." 

,  The  old  gentleman  said  this  in  a  very  quick, 
abrupt  way,  and  looked  as  if  he  were  afraid 
his  offer  might  be  refused.  He  was  much 
heated,  with  climbing  our  long  stair  no  d(jubt, 
and  as  he  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
puffing  and  wiping  his  bald  head  with  a 
handkerchief,  my  mother  rose  hastily  and 
offered  him  a  chair. 

''  You  are  very  kind,  sir,"  she  said  ;  "do  sit 
down,  sir.  I'm  sure  I  don't  know  why  you 
should  take  so  much  trouble.  But,  dear  me, 
you  are  very  warm ;  will  you  take  a  cup  of 
tea  to  cool  you  ?" 

"Thank  you,  thank  you.  With  much 
pleasure,  unless,  indeed,  your  son  objects  to 
a  'stingy  old  chap^  sitting  beside  him." 

I  blushed  when  he  repeated  my  words,  and 
Httempted  to  make  some  apology  ;  bat  the  old 
gentleman  stopped   me   by   commencing   to 
explain  his  intentions  in  short,   rapid  sen 
tences. 


FIGIITINO    THE    WHALES. 


17 


To  mfike  a  long  story  short,  he  oiTered  to 
look  after  my  mother  while  I  was  away,  and 
to  prove  his  sincerity,  hiid  down  five  shil- 
ling's, and  said  he  would  call  with  tliat  sum 
every  week  as  long  as  I  was  absent.  My 
motlier,  after  some  trouble,  agreed  to  let  me 
go,  and,  bef(^re  tliat  evening  closed,  every- 
thing was  arranged,  and  the  gentleman,  leav- 
ing bis  address,  went  away. 

The  sailor  had  been  so  much  filled  with 
surprise  at  the  suddenness  of  all  this,  that  he 
could  scarcely  speak.  Immediately  after  the 
departure  of  the  old  gentleman,  he  said, 
''Well,  good-bye,  mistress,  good-bye.  Bob,'* 
and  throwing  on  his  hat  in  a  careless  way, 
left  the  room. 

''Stop!"  I  shouted  after  him,  when  he  had 
got  about  half-way  down  stair. 

"  Hallo !  wot's  wrong  now  ?" 

"  Nothing,  I  only  forgot  to  ask  your  name." 

"Tom  Lokins,"  he  bellowed,  in  the  hoarse 
voice  of  a  regular  boatswain,  "  w'ich  wos  my 
father's  name  before  me." 

So  saying,  he  departed,  whistling  "Eule 
Britannia  "  with  all  his  might. 

'l^hus  the  matter  was  settled.     Six  days 


18 


FiailTINO   THE   WHALES. 


afterwards,  I  rigged  myself  out  in  a  blue 
jacket,  wliite  ducks,  and  a  straw  bat,  and 
went  to  sea. 


CHAPTER  11. 


AT   SEA. 


TV/TY  first  few  days  on  the  ocean  were  so 
-^^J-  miserable,  tliat  I  oftentimes  repented 
of  having  left  ni}^  native  land.  I  was,  as  my 
new  friend  Tom  Lokins  said,  as  sick  as  a 
dog.  But  in  course  of  time  I  grew  well,  and 
began  to  rejoice  in  the  cool  fresh  breezes  and 
the  great  rolling  billows  of  the  sea. 

Many  and  many  a  time  I  used  to  creep  out 
to  the  end  of  the  bowsprit,  when  the  weather 
was  calm,  and  sit,  with  my  legs  dangling  over 
the  deep  blue  water,  and  my  eyes  fixed  on 
the  great  masses  of  rolling  clouds  in  the  sky, 
thinking  of  the  new  course  of  life  I  had  just 
begun.  At  such  times  the  thought  of  my 
mother  was  sure  to  come  into  my  mind,  and 
I  thought  of  her  parting  words,  "Put  youi 


rMJIITINO    THE    WHALES 


10 


trust  in  the  Lord,  lloLcrt,  and  read  His 
Word."  T  resolved  to  try  to  obey  lu^r,  but 
this  I  found  was  no  easy  rnntter,  lor  tlio 
sailors  were  a  rougli  lot  of  fellows,  who  eared 
little  for  the  Bible.  But,  I  must  say,  they 
were  a  hearty  good-natured  set,  and  much 
better,  upon  the  whole,  than  many  a  ship's 
crew  that  I  afterwards  sailed  with. 

We  were  fortunate  in  having  fair  winds 
this  voyage,  and  soon  found  oursidves  on  the 
other  side  of  the  line,  as  we  jaek-tars  call  the 
Equator. 

Of  course  the  crew  did  not  forget  the  old 
custom  of  shaving  all  the  men  who  had  never 
crossed  the  line  before.  Our  captain  was  a 
jolly  old  man,  and  uncommonly  fond  of 
"  sky-larking."  lie  gave  us  leave  to  do  what 
we  liked  the  day  we  crossed  tlie  line;  so,  as 
there  were  a  number  of  wild  spirits  among 
us,  we  broke  through  all  the  ordinary  rules, 
or,  rather  we  added  on  new  rules  to  thern. 

The  old  haixls  had  kept  the  matter  quiet 
from  us  greenhorns,  so  that,  although  we 
knew  they  were  going  to  do  some  sort  of 
mischief,  we  didn't  exactly  understand  what 
it  was  to  be. 


20 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


About  noon  of  tint  day  I  was  called  on  deck 
and  told  that  old  father  Neptune  was  com- 
ing aboard,  and  we  were  to  be  ready  to  re- 
ceive hiin.     A  minute  after  I  saw  a  tremen- 
dous monster  come  up  over  the  side  of  tlie 
ship  and  jump  on  the  deck.     ELe  was  crowned 
with  sea-weed,  and  painted  in  a  wonderful 
fashion  ;  liis  clothes  were  dripping  wet,  as  if 
he  had  just  come  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
After  him  came  another  monster  with  a  pet- 
ticoat made  of  sailcloth  and  a  tippet  of  a  bit 
of  old  tarpaulin.     This  was  Neptune's  wife, 
and  these  two  carried  on  the  most  remark- 
able antics  T  ever  saw.     I  laughed  heartily, 
and  soon  discovered,  from  the  tones  of  their 
voices,  which  of  my  shipmates  Neptune  and 
his  wife  were.     But  my  mirth  v/as  quickly 
stopped   Avhen   I    was    suddenly    seized    by 
several  men,  and  my  face  was  covered  over 
with  a  horrible  mixture  of  tar  and  grease! 

Six  of  us  youngsters  were  treated  in  this 
way ;  then  the  lather  was  scraped  oil*  with  a 
piece  of  old  hoop-iron,  and  after  being  thus 
shaved,  buckets  of  cold  water  were  ihrown 
over  us. 

At  last,  after  a  prosperous  voyage,  we  ar 


FIGHTING   THE  WHALES. 


21 


rived  at  our  fishing-ground  m  the  South  Seas, 
and  a  feeling  of  excitement  and  expectation 
beoran  to  show  itself  amonjy  tlie  men,  insomuch 
that  our  very  eyes  seemed  brighter  than  usual. 

One  night  those  of  us  who  had  just  been 
relieved  from  watch  on  deck,  were  sitting  on 
the  lockers  down  below  telling  ghost  stories. 

It  was  a  dead  calm,  and  one  of  those  in- 
tensely dark,  hot  nights,  tliat  cause  sailors 
to  feel  uneasy,  they  scarce  know  why.     I  be- 
gan to  feel  so  uncomfortable  at  last,  listening 
to  the  horrible  tales  which  Tom  Tjokins  was 
relating  to  tlie  men,  that  I  slipped  away  from 
them  with  the  intention  of  going  on  deck. 
I  moved  so  quietly  that  no  one  observed  me ; 
besides,  every  eye  was  fixed    earnestly  on 
Tom,   whose  deep  low  voice  was   the  only 
sound  that  broke  the  stillness  of  all  around. 
As  I  was  going  very  cautit)usly  up  the  lad- 
der leading  to  the  deck,  Tom  had  reached 
that  part  of  his  story  where  the  ghost  was 
just  appearing  in  a  dark  churchyard,  dressed 
in  white,  and  coming  slowly  forward,  one 
step  at  a  time,  towards  the  terrified  man  who 
Baw  it.     The  men  held  their  breath,  and  one 
or  two  of  their  faces  turned  pale  as  Tom  went 


22 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


on  witli  his  description,  lowering  his  voice  to 
a  hoarse  whisper.  Just  as  I  put  my  head  up 
the  hatchway  the  sheet  of  one  of  the  sails, 
which  was  hanging  loose  in  the  still  air, 
passed  gently  over  my  head  and  knocked  my 
hat  off.  At  any  other  time  I  would  have 
thought  nothing  of  this,  but  Tom's  story  had 
thrown  me  into  such  an  excited  and  nervous 
condition  that  I  gave  a  start,  missed  my 
footing,  uttered  a  loud  cry,  and  fell  down  the 
ladder  right  in  among  the  men  with  a  tre- 
mendous crash,  knocking  over  two  or  three 
oil-cans  and  a  tin  bread-basket  in  my  fall, 
and  upsetting  the  lantern,  so  that  the  place 
was  instantly  pitch  dark. 

I  never  heard  such  a  howl  of  terror  as 
these  men  gave  vent  to  when  this  misfortune 
befell  me.  They  rushed  upon  deck  with 
their  hearts  in  their  mouths,  tumbling,  and 
peeling  the  skin  oft'  their  shins  and  knuckles 
in  their  haste  ;  and  it  was  not  until  they  heard 
the  laughter  of  the  watch  on  deck  that  they 
breathed  freely,  and,  joining  in  the  laugh, 
called  themselves  fools  for  being  frightened 
by  a  ghost  story.  I  noticed,  however,  that, 
for  all  their  D"etended  indifference,  there  was 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


23 


not  one  man  among  them — not  even  Tom 
Lokins  himself — who  would  go  down  below 
to  re-light  the  lantern  for  at  least  a  quarter 
of  an  Lour  afterwards ! 

Feeling  none  the  worse  for  m}^  fall,  I  went 
forward  and  leaned  over  the  bow  of  the  ship, 
where  I  was  much  astonished  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  sea.  It  seemed  as  if  the  water 
was  on  fire.  Every  time  the  ship's  bow  rose 
and  fell,  the  little  belt  of  foam  made  in  the 
water  seemed  like  a  belt  of  blue  flame  with 
bright  sparkles  in  it,  like  stars  or  diamonds. 
I  had  seen  this  curious  appearance  before, 
but  never  so  bright  as  it  was  on  that  night. 

"What  is  it,  Tom?"  said  I,  as  my  friend 
came  forward  and  leaned  over  the  ship's  bul- 
wark beside  me. 

"It's  blue  fire.  Bob,"  replied  Tom,  as  he 
smoked  his  pipe  calmly. 

"  Come,  you  know  I  can't  swallow  that," 
said  I,  "  everybody  knows  that  fire,  either 
blue  or  red,  can't  burn  in  the  water." 

"  May  be  not,"  returned  Tom ;  "  but  it's 
blue  fire  for  al}  that.  Leastwise  if  it's  not,  I 
don't  know  wot  else  it  is." 

Tom  had  often  s^en  this  light  before,  no 
8 


24 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


doubt,  but  he  bad  never  given  bimself  the 
trouble  to  find  out  what  it  could  be.  For- 
tunately the  captain  came  up  just  as  I  put 
the  question,  and  he  enlightened  me  on  the 
subject. 

''It  is  caused  by  small  animals,"  said  he, 
leaning  over  the  side. 

"Small  animals!"  said  I,  in  astonishment. 

''  Ay,  many  parts  of  the  sea  are  full  of 
creatures  so  small  and  so  thin  and  colorless, 
that  you  can  hardly  see  them  even  in  a  clear 
glass  tumbler.  Many  of  them  are  larger 
than  others,  but  the  most  of  them  are  very 
small." 

"But  how  do  they  shine  like  that,  sir?"  I 
asked. 

"  That  I  do  not  know,  boy.  God  has  given 
them  the  power  to  shine,  just  as  he  has  givea 
us  the  power  to  walk  or  speak ;  and  they  do 
shine  brightly,  as  you  see ;  but  how  they  do 
it  is  more  than  I  can  tell.  I  think,  myself, 
it  mu.^t  be  anger  that  makes  them  shine,  for 
they  generally  do  it  when  they  are  stirred  up 
or  knocked  about  by  oars,  or^  ship's  keels,  or 
tumbling  waves.  But  1  am  not  sure  that 
that's  the  reason  cither,  because,  you  know, 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


25 


we  often  sail  through  them  without  seeing 
the  light,  though,  of  course,  they  must  be 
there." 

"  P'raps,  sir,"  said  Tom  Lokins ;  ''  p'raps, 
sir,  they're  sleepy  sometimes,  an'  can't  b© 
bothered  gettin'  angry." 

"Perhaps!"  answered  the  captain,  laugh 
ing.  "  But  then  again,  at  other  times,  I  have 
seen  them  shining  over  the  whole  sea  when 
it  was  quite  calm,  making  it  like  an  ocean  of 
milk ;  and  nothing  was  disturbing  them  at 
that  time,  d'ye  see." 

''I  don'  know  that,^''  objected  Tom  ;  "they 
might  have  bin  a-figlitin'  among  theirselves.'^ 

"  Or  playing,  may  bo,"  said  I. 

The  captain  laughed,  and  looking  up  at 
the  sky,  said,  "I  don't  like  the  look  of  the 
weather,  Tom  Lokins.  You're  a  sharp  fel- 
low, and  have  been  in  these  seas  before,  what 
say  you?"  ^     . 

"  We'll  have  abreeze,"  replied  Tom,  briefly. 

"More  than  a  breeze,"  muttered  the  cap- 
tain, while  a  look  of  grave  anxiety  overspread 
his  countenance;  "I'll  go  below  and  take  a 
squint  at  the  glass."  '  >«' 

"  What  does  he  mean  by  that,  Tom?"  said 


26 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


I,  when  tbe  captain  was  gone;  "I  never 
saw  a  calmer  or  a  finer  night.  Surely  there 
is  no  chance  of  a  storm  just  now." 

"Ay,  that  shows  that  you're  a  young  fel- 
ler, and  ha'nt  got  much  experience  o'  them 
seas,"  replied  my  companion.  "  Why,  boy, 
sometimes  the  fiercest  storm  is  brewin'  be- 
hind the  greatest  calm.  An'  the  worst  o  the 
thing  is  that  it  comes  so  sudden  at  times,  that 
the  masts  are  torn  out  o'  the  ship  before  you 
can  say  Jack  Robinson." 

'^  What !  and  without  any  warning  ?"  said  I. 

'*Ay,  almost  without  warnin',  but  not 
altogether  without  it.  You  heer'd  the  cap- 
tain say  he'd  go  an'  take  a  squint  at  the 
glass?" 

"  Yes,  what  is  the  glass  ?" 

"It's  not  a  glass  o'  grog,  yon  may  be 
sure;  nor  yet  a  lookin'-glass.  It's  the 
weather-glass,  boy.  Shore-goin'  chaps  call 
it  a  barometer." 

"And  what's  the  mean  ^g  of  barometer?" 
I  inquired  earnestly. 

Tom  Lokins  stared  at  me  in  stupid  amaze- 
ment. "Why,  boy,"  said  he,  "you're  too 
inquisitive.     I  once  asked  the  doctor  o'  a 


FIGHTING   THE   WHILES. 


2T 


ship  that  question,  and  says  he  to  me,  'Tom,* 
says  he,  '  a  barometer  is  a  ghass  tube  filled 
with  quicksilver  or  mercury,  which  is  a 
metal  in  a  soft  or  fluid  state,  like  water,  you 
know,  and  it's  meant  for  tellin'  the  state  o* 
the  weather.' " 

'"Yes,  sir,'  I  answers,  ^I  know  that  well 
enougli.' 

" '  Then  why  did  you  ask  ?'  says  he,  gittin* 
into  a  passion. 

^''I  asked  what  was  the  meanin'  o*  the 
word  barometer,  sir,'  said  I. 

''The  doctor  he  looked  grave  at  that,  and 
shook  his  head.  'Tom,'  says  he,  'if  I  was 
to  go  for  to  explain  that  word,  and  all  about 
the  instrument  in  a  scientific  surt  o'  way, 
d'ye  see,  I'd  have  to  sit  here  an'  speak  to 
you  right  on  end  for  six  hours  or  more.' 

"'Oh,  sir,' says  I,  'don't  do  it,  then.  Please^ 
don't  do  it.' 

'^'No  more  I  will,'  says  he;  'but  it'll 
serve  your  turn  to  know  that  a  barometer  is 
a  glass  for  measurin'  the  weight  o'  the  air, 
and,  somehow  or  other,  that  lets  you  know 
wot's  a-coming.  If  the  mercury  in  th  j  glass 
rises  high,  all's  right.  If  it  falls  unc  rmmon 
3* 


28 


PIGHTINQ   THE   WHALE3. 


low  very  sudden,  look  out  for  squalls ;  that's 
all.  No  matter  how  smooth  the  sea  may  be, 
or  how  sweetly  all  natur'  may  smile,  don't 
you  believe  it;  take  in  every  inch  o'  cmvas 
at  once.' 

"  That  was  a  queer  explanation,  Tom." 

'^  Ay,  but  it  was  a  true  one,  as  you  shall 
see  before  long." 

As  I  looked  out  upon  the  calm  sea,  which 
lay  like  a  sheet  of  glass,  without  a  ripple  on 
its  surface,  I  could  scarcely  believe  what  he 
had  said.  But  before  many  minutes  had 
passed,  I  was  convinced  of  my  error. 

While  I  was  standing  talking  to  my 
messmate,  the  captain  rushed  on  deck,  and 
shouted — 

^'All  hands  tumble  up!  Shorten  sail! 
Take  in  every  rag !  Look  alive,  boys,  look 
alive !" 

I  was  quite  stunned  for  a  moment  by  this, 
and  by  the  sudden  tumult  that  followed. 
The  men,  who  seemed  never  to  take  thought 
about  anything,  and  who  had  but  one  duty, 
namely,  to  obey  orders,  ran  upon  deck,  and 
leaped  up  the  rigging  like  cats;  the  sheets 
of  nearly  all  the  principal  sails  were  clewed 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


29 


up,  and  ere  long,  the  canvas  was  maac  fast 
to  the  yards.  A  few  of  the  smaller  sails  only 
were  left  exposed,  and  even  these  were  close- 
reefed.  Before  long  a  loud  roar  was  heard, 
and  in  another  minute  the  storm  burst  upon 
us  with  terrific  violence.  The  ship  at  first 
lay  over  so  much  that  the  masts  were  almost 
in  the  water,  and  it  was  as  impossible  for 
anv  one  to  walk  the  deck  as  to  walk  alon;r 
the  side  of  a  wall.  At  the  same  time,  the 
sea  was  lashed  into  white  foam,  and  the  blind- 
ing spray  flew  over  us  in  bitter  fury. 

"Take  in  the  topsails!"  roared  the  cap- 
tain. But  his  voice  was  drowned  in  the 
shriek  of  the  gale.  The  men  were  saved  the 
risk  of  going  out  on  the  yards,  however,  for 
in  a  few  moments  more  all  the  sails,  except 
the  storm-try-sail,  were  burst  and  blown  to 
ribbons. 

We  now  tried  to  put  the  ship's  head  to 
the  wind  and  "  lay  to,^^  by  which  landsmen 
will  understand  that  we  tried  to  face  the 
storm,  and  remain  stationary.  But  the  gale 
was  so  fierce  that  this  was  impossible.  The 
last  rag  of  sail  was  blown  away,  and  then 
there  was  nothinor  left  for  us  but  tc  show 


30 


FiailTINU    THE     VHALES. 


our  stern  to  the  gale,  and  "  scud  under  bare 
poles." 

The  great  danger  now  was  that  we  might 
be  "pooped,"  which  means  that  a  huge  wave 
might  curl  over  our  stern,  fall  with  terrible 
fujy  on  our  deck,  and  sink  us. 

Many  and  many  a  good  ship  has  gone 
down  in  this  way ;  but  we  were  mercifully 
spared.  As  our  safety  depended  very  much 
on  good  steering,  the  captain  himself  took 
the  wheel,  and  managed  the  ship  so  well,  that 
we  weathered  the  gale  without  damage,  far- 
ther than  the  loss  of  a  few  sails  and  light 
spars.  For  two  days  the  storm  howled  furi- 
ously, the  sky  and  sea  were  like  ink^  wHh 
sheets  of  rain  and  foam  driving  through  the 
air,  and  raging  billows  tossing  our  ship  about 
like  a  cork. 

During  all  this  time  my  shipmates  were 
quiet  and  grave,  but  active  and  full  of  energy, 
so  that  every  order  was  at  once  obeyed  with- 
out noise  or  confusion.  Every  man  watched 
the  slightest  motion  of  the  captain.  We  all 
felt  that  everything  depended  on  him. 

As  for  me,  I  gave  up  all  hope  of  bein^ 
saved.    It  seemed  impossible  to  me  that  anj 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


ai 


thing  that  man  could  build  could  withstand 
so  terrible  a  storm.  I  do  not  pretend  to  say 
that  I  was  not  afraid.  The  near  prospect  of 
a  violent  death  caused  my  heart  to  sink  more 
than  once ;  but  my  feelings  did  not  unman 
me.  I  did  my  duty  quietly,  but  quickly, 
like  the  rest ;  and  when  I  had  no  work  to  do, 
I  stood  holding  on  to  the  weather  stanchions, 
looking  at  the  raging  sea,  and  think  of  my 
mother,  and  of  the  words  of  kindness  and 
counsel  she  had  so  often  bestowed  upon  me 
in  vain. 

The  storm  ceased  almost  as  quickly  as  it 
began,  and  although  the  sea  did  not  all  at 
once  stop  the  heavings  of  its  angry  bosom, 
the  wind  fell  entirely  in  the  course  of  a  few 
hours,  the  dark  clouds  broke  up  into  great 
masses  that  were  piled  up  high  into  the  sky, 
and  out  of  the  midst  of  these  the  glorious  sun 
shone  in  bright  rays  down  on  the  ocean,  like 
comfort  from  heaven,  gladdening  our  hearts 
as  we  busily  repaired  the  damage  that  we 
had  suffered  from  the  storm. 


82 


riGHTINO   THE   WHALES. 


CHAPTER  III. 


OUR    FIRST    BATTLE. 

I  SHALL  never  forget  the  surprise  I  got 
the  first  time  I  saw  a  wliale. 

It  was  in  the  forenoon  of  a  most  splendid 
daj;  about  a  week  after  we  arrived  at  that 
part  of  the  ocean  where  we  might  expect  to 
find  fish.  A  light  nor'-east  breeze  was  blow- 
ing, but  it  scarcely  rufQed  the  sea,  as  we  crept 
slowly  through  the  water  with  every  stitch 
of  canvas  set. 

As  we  had  been  looking  out  for  fish  for 
some  time  past,  everything  was  in  readiness 
for  them.  The  boats  were  hanging  over  the 
side  ready  to  lower,  tubs  for  coiling  away 
the  ropes,  harpoons,  lances,  &c.,  all  were 
ready  to  throw  in,  and  start  away  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice.  The  man  in  the  '*  crow's  nest," 
as  they  call  the  cask  fixed  up  at  the  masthead, 
was  looking  anxiously  out  for  whales,  and 
the  crew  were  idling  about  the  deck.  Tom 
Lokins  was  seated  on  the  windlass  smoking 
his  pipe,  and  I  was  sitting  beside  him  on  an 
empty  cask,  sharpening  a  blubber-knife. 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


.  **Tom,"  said  I,  "  what  like  is  a  whale?" 

"Why,  it's  like  nothin'  but  itself,"  replied 
Tom,  looking  puzzled.  "Why,  wot  a  queer 
feller  you  are  to  ax  questions." 

"I'm  sure  you've  seen  plenty  of  them. 
You  might  be  able  to  tell  what  a  whale  is 
like." 

"  Wot  it's  like  1  Well,  it's  like  a  tremen- 
dous  big  bolster  with  a  head  and  a  tail  to  it." 

"And  how  big  is  it?" 

"  They're  of  all  sizes,  lad.  I've  seen  one 
that  was  exactly  equal  to  three  hundred  fat 
bulls,  and  its  rate  of  goin'  would  take  it 
round  the  whole  world  in  twenty-three  days." 

"I  don't  believe  you,"  said  I,  laughing. 

"  Don't  you  ?"  cried  Tom  ;  "  it's  a  fact  not- 
withstandin',  for  the  captain  himself  said  so, 
and  that's  how  I  came  to  know  it." 

Just  as  Tom  finished  speaking,  the  man  in 
the  crow's  nest  roared  at  the  top  of  his  voice. 
"There  she  blows  I" 

That  was  the  signal  that  a  whale  was  in 
sight,  and  as  it  was  the  first  time  we  had 
heard  it  that  season,  every  man  in  the  ship 
was  thrown  into  a  state  of  tremendous  ex- 
citement. 


34 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES 


''  There  she  blows !"  roared  the  maL  again. 

''Where  away?"  shouted  the  captain. 

"  About  two  miles  right  a-head." 

In  another  moment  the  utmost  excitement 
prevailed  on  board.  Suddenly,  while  I  waa 
looking  over  the  side,  straining  my  eyes  to 
catch  a  sight  of  the  whale,  which  could  not 
yet  be  seen  by  the  men  on  deck,  I  saw  a  brown 
object  appear  in  the  sea,  not  twenty  yards  from 
the  side  of  the  ship ;  before  I  had  time  to 
ask  what  i%  was,  a  whale's  head  rose  to  the 
surface,  and  shot  up  out  of  the  water.  The 
part  of  the  fish  that  was  visible  above  water 
could  not  have  been  less  than  thirty  feet  in 
length.  It  just  looked  as  if  our  long-boat 
had  jumped  out  of  the  sea,  and  he  was  so  near 
that  I  could  see  his  great  mouth  quite  plainly. 
I  could  have  tossed  a  biscuit  on  his  back 
easily.  Sending  two  thick  spouts  of  frothy 
water  out  of  his  blow-holes  forty  feet  into 
the  air  with  tremendous  noise,  he  fell  flat 
upon  the  sea  with  a  clap  like  thunder,  tossed 
his  flukes  or  tail  high  into  the  air,  and  dis- 
appeared. 

I  was  so  amazed  at  this  sight  that  I  could 
not  speak.  I  could  only  stare  at  the  place 
where  the  huge  moi/Ster  had  gone  down. 


FIOHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


85 


"Stand  by  to  lower/*  shouted  the  captain. 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  replied  the  men,  leaping  to 
their  appointed  stations  ;  for  every  man  in  a 
whale-ship  has  his  post  of  duty  appointed  to 
him,  and  knows  what  to  do  when  an  order 


is  given. 


"Lower  away,"  cried  the  captain,  whose 
face  was  now  bhizing  with  excitement. 

In  a  moment  more  three  boats  were  in  the 
water ;  the  tubs,  harpoons,  kc,  were  thrown 
in,  th.e  men  seized  the  oars,  and  away  they 
went  with  a  cheer.  I  was  in  such  a  state  of 
flutter  that  I  scarce  Itnew  what  I  did;  but  I 
managed  somehow  or  other  to  get  into  a 
boat,  and  as  I  was  a  strong  fellow,  and  a  good 
rower,  I  was  allowed  to  pull. 

"  There  she  blows !"  cried  the  man  in  the 
crow's  nest,  just  as  we  shot  from  the  side  of 
the  ship.  There  was  no  need  to  ask,  "  where 
away"  this  time.  Another  whale  rose  and 
spouted  not  more  than  three  lumdred  yards 
off,  and  before  we  could  speak  a  third  fish 
roso  in  another  direction,  and  we  found  our- 
selves in  the  middle  of  what  is  called  a 
school  of  whales." 

''Now,  l.'itls,"  said  the  captain,  who  steered 


i%l 


i;;,l 


36 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


the  boat  in  wliicli  I  rowed,  "  bend  your  backs, 
my  hearties ;  that  fish  right  a- head  of  us  is 
a  hundred-barrel  whale  for  certain.  Give 
way.  boys ;  we  must  have  that  fish." 

There  was  no  need  to  urge  the  men,  for 
their  backs  were  strained  to  the  utmost,  their 
faces  were  flushed,  and  the  big  veins  in  their 
necks  swelled  almost  to  bursting,  with  the 
tremendous  exertion. 

"Hold  hard,"  said  the  captain  in  a  low 
Toice,  for  now  that  we  were  getting  near  our 
prey,  we  made  as  little  noise  as  possible 

The  men  at  once  threw  their  oars  "  apeak," 
as  they  say ;  that  is,  raised  them  straight  up 
in  the  air,  and  waited  for  further  orders.  We 
'expected  the  whale  would  rise  near  to  where 
-we  were,  and  thought  it  best  to  rest  and  look 
-out. 

While  we  were  waiting,  Tom  Lokins,  who 
was  harpooner  of  the  boat,  sat  just  behind 
me  with  all  his  irons  ready.  He  took  th:- 
opportunity  to  explain  to  me  that  by  a 
"hundred-barrel  fish  "  is  meant  a  fish  that 
'will  yield  a  hundred  barrels  of  oil.  He  fur- 
ther informed  me  that  such  a  fish  was  a  big 
•one,  though  he  had  seen  a  few  in  the  North- 


f 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


m 


West  Seas  that  had  produced  upwards  of  two 
hundred  barrels. 

I  now  ob.ierved  that  the  other  boats  had 
separated,  and  each  had  gone  after  a  different 
whale.  In  a  few  minutes  the  fish  we  were 
in  chase  of  rose  a  short  distance  off,  and  sent 
up  two  splendid  water-spouts  high  into  the 
air,  thus  showing  that  he  was  what  the 
whalers  call  a  "  right"  whale.  It  is  diflerent 
from  the  sperm  whale,  which  has  only  on© 
blow-hole,  and  that  a  little  one. 

We  rowed  towards  it  with  all  our  might, 
and  as  we  drew  near  the  captain  ordered  Tom 
Lokins  to  "  stand  up,"  so  he  at  once  laid  in 
his  oar,  and  took  up  the  harpoon.  The  har- 
poon is  an  iron  lance  with  a  barbed  point. 
A  whale-line  is  attached  to  it,  and  this  line 
is  coiled  away  in  a  tub.  When  we  were 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  fish,  which  was 
going  slowly  through  the  water,  all  ignorant 
of  the  terrible  foes  who  were  pursuing  him, 
Tom  Lokins  raised  the  harpoon  high  above 
his  head,  and  darted  it  deep  into  its  fat  side 
just  behind  the  left  fin,  and  next  moment 
the  boat  ran  aground  on  the  whale's  back. 

^' Stern   all,  for  your  lives!"  roared   the 


38 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


Ill 


!    Hi 


captain,  who,  before  his  o  rder  was  obeyed, 
managed  to  give  the  creature  two  deep 
wounds  with  his  lance.  The  lance  has  no 
barbs  to  its  point,  and  is  used  oulj  for 
wounding  after  the  harpoon  is  fixed. 

The  boat  was  backed  off  at  once,  but  it 
had  scarcely  got  a  few  yards  away  when  the 
astonished  fish  whirled  its  huge  body  half 
out  of  the  water,  and,  coming  down  with  a 
tremendous  clap,  made  off  like  lightning. 

The  line  was  passed  round  a  strong  piece 
of  wood  called  the  "  logger-head,"  and,  in 
running  out,  it  began  to  smoke,  and  nearly 
set  the  wood  on  fire.  Indeed,  it  would  have 
done  so,  if  a  man  had  not  kept  constantly 
pouring  water  upon  it.  It  was  needful  to  be 
very  cautious  in  managing  the  line,  for  the 
duty  is  attended  with  great  danger.  If  any 
hitch  should  take  place,  the  line  is  apt  to 
catch  the  boat  and  drag  it  down  bodily  under 
the  waves.  Sometimes  a  coil  of  it  gets  round 
a  leg  or  an  arm  of  the  man  who  attends  to  it, 
in  which  case  his  destruction  is  almost  cer- 
tain. Many  a  poor  fellow  has  lost  his  life  in 
this  way. 

The   order  was  now  given  to  ''hold  on 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


39 


line."  This  was  done,  and  in  a  moment  our 
boat  was  cleaving  the  blue  water  like  an 
arrow,  while  the  white  foam  curled  from  her 
bows.  I  thought  every  moment  we  should 
be  dragged  under;  but  whenever  this  seemed 
likely  to  happen,  tlie  line  was  let  run  a  bit, 
and  the  strain  eased.  At  last  the  fish  grew 
tired  of  dragging  us,  the  line  ceased  to  run 
out,  and  Tom  hauled  in  the  slack,  which  an- 
other man  coiled  away  in  its  tub.  Presently 
the  fish  rose  to  the  surface,  a  short  distance 
ofl'  our  weather-bow. 

'*Give  way,  boys  !  spring  your  oars,"  cried 
the  captain ;  '^  another  touch  or  two  with  the 
lance,  and  that  fish  is  ours." 

The  boat  shot  ahead,  and  we  were  about 
to  dart  a  second  harpoon  into  the  whale's 
side,  when  it  took  to  ''sounding," — which 
means,  that  it  went  straight  down,  head  fore- 
most, into  the  depths  of  the  sea.  At  that 
moment  Tom  Lokins  uttered  a  cry  of  mingled 
anger  and  disappointment.  We  all  turned 
round  and  saw  our  shipmate  standing  with 
the  slack  line  in  his  hand,  and  such  an  ex- 
pression on  his  weather-beaten  face,  that  I 
could  scarce  help  laughing.  The  harpoon 
i* 


40 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


:!l|     ! 


had  not  been  well  fixed ;  it  had  lost  its  hold, 
and  the  fish  was  now  free ! 

*'  Gone ! "  exclaimed  the  captain  with  a 
groan. 

I  remember  even  yet  the  feeling  of  awful 
disappointment  that  came  over  me  when  I 
understood  that  we  had  lost  the  fish  after  all 
our  trouble  I  I  could  almost  have  wept  with 
bitter  vexation.  As  for  my  comrades,  they 
sat  starino^  at  each  other  for  some  moments 
quite  speechless.  Before  we  could  recover 
from  the  state  into  which  this  misfortune 
had  thrown  us,  one  of  the  men  suddenly 
shouted,  "  Hallo !  there's  the  mate's  boat  in 
distress." 

We  turned  at  once,  and  truly,  there  was 
no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this,  for  about  half 
a  mile  off,  we  beheld  our  first  mate's  boat 
tearing  over  the  sea  like  a  small  steamer. 
It  was  fast  to  a  fish,  and  two  oars  were  set 
up  on  end  to  attract  our  attention. 

When  a  whale  is  struck,  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  the  whole  of  the  line  in  a  boat  is 
run  out.  When  this  is  about  to  occur,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  hold  on  as  much  as  can 
be  done  without  running  the  boat  under  the 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


41 


water,  and  an  oar  is  set  up  on  end  to  show 
t)iat  assistance  is  required,  either  from  the 
ship  or  from  the  other  boats.  As  the  line 
grows  less  and  less,  another  and  another  oar 
is  hoisted  to  show  that  help  must  be  sent 
quickly.  If  no  assistance  can  be  sent,  the 
only  thing  that  remains  to  be  done  is  to  cut 
the  line  and  lose  the  fish;  but  a  whale  line, 
with  its  harpoon,  is  a  very  heavy  loss,  in  ad- 
dition to  that  of  the  fish,  so  that  whalers  are 
tempted  to  hold  on  a  little  too  long  some- 
times. 

When  we  saw  the  mate's  boat  dashing 
away  in  this  style,  we  forgot  our  grief  at  the 
loss  of  our  whale  in  anxiety  to  render  assist- 
ance to  our  comrades,  and  we  rowed  towards 
them  as  fast  as  we  could.  Fortunately  the 
whale  changed  its  course  and  came  straight 
towards  us,  so  that  we  ceased  pulling,  and 
waited  till  they  came  up.  As  the  boat  came  on 
I  saw  the  foam  curling  up  on  her  bows  as  she 
leaped  and  flew  over  the  sea.  I  could 
scarcely  believe  it  possible  that  wood  and 
iron  could  bear  such  a  strain.  In  a  few 
minutes  they  were  almost  abreast  of  us. 


42 


FIGHTING   THE    WIIALKS. 


"Ilil 


"  You're  holding  too  liard  I"  shouted  the. 
captain. 

"  Lines  all  out !"  roared  the  mate. 

They  were  past  almost  before  these  short 
sentences  could  be  spoken.  But  they  had 
not  gone  twenty  yards  ahead  of  us  when  the 
water  rushed  in  over  the  bow,  and  before  we 
could  utter  a  word  the  boat  and  crew  were 
gone.  Not  a  t^ace  of  them  remained !  The 
horror  of  the  moment  had  not  been  fully  felt, 
however,  when  the  boat  rose  to  the  surface 
keel  u}),  and,  one  after  another,  the  heads  of 
the  men  appeared.  The  line  had  fortunately 
broken,  otherwise  the  boat  would  have  been 
lost,  and  the  entire  crew  probably  would  have 
gone  to  the  bottom  with  her. 

We  instantly  pulled  to  the  rescue,  and  were 
thankful  to  find  that  not  a  man  was  killed, 
though  some  of  them  were  a  little  hurt,  and 
all  had  received  a  terrible  fright.  We  next 
Bet  to  work  to  right  the  upset  boat,  an  opera- 
tion which  was  not  accomplished  v  ithout 
much  labor  and  difficulty. 

Now,  while  we  were  thus  employed,  our 
third  boat,  which  was  in  charge  of  the  second 
mate,  had  gone  after  the  whale  that  had  caused 


liiii 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


48 


us  so  much  trouble,  and  when  we  had  got  the 
boat  righted  and  began  to  look  about  us,  we 
found  that  she  was  fast  to  the  fish  about  a 
mile  to  leeward. 

''  Hurrah,  lads ! "  cried  the  captain,  "  luck 
has  not  left  us  yet.  Give  way,  my  hearties, 
pull  like  Britons !  we'll  get  that  fish  yet." 

We  were  all  dreadfully  done  up  by  this 
time,  but  the  sight  of  a  boat  fast  to  a  whale 
restor«^d  us  at  once,  and  we  pulled  away  as 
stoutly  as  if  we  had  only  begun  the  day's 
work.  The  whale  was  heading  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  ship,  and  when  we  came  up  to  the 
scene  of  action  the  second  mate  had  just 
"touched  the  life;"  in  other  words,  he  had 
driven  the  lance  deep  down  into  the  whak's 
vitals.  This  was  quickly  known  by  jets  of 
blood  being  spouted  up  through  the  blow- 
holes. Soon  after,  our  victim  went  into  its 
dying  agonies,  or,  as  whalemen  say,  'Miis 
flurry." 

This  did  not  last  long.  In  a  short  time  he 
rolled  over  dead.  We  fastened  a  line  to  his 
tail,  the  three  boats  took  the  carcass  in  tow, 
and,  singing  a  lively  song,  we  rowed  away 
to  the  ship. 

Thus  ended  our  first  battle  with  the  whales. 


m* 


(!tl 


44 


PiaHriNG   THE   WHALE8. 


CHAPTER  TV, 


"CUTTING  IN  THE  BLUBBER"  AND  '  TRYING 


)> 


OUT  THE  OIL. 

^piIE  scene  that  took  place  on  board  ship 
-■-  after  we  caught  our  first  fish  was  most 
wonderful.  We  commenced  the  operation 
of  what  is  called  "cutting in,"  that  is,  cutting 
up  the  whale,  and  getting  the  fat  or  blubber 
hoisted  in.  The  next  thing  we  did  was  to 
''try  out"  the  oil,  or  melt  down  the  fat  in 
large  iron  pots  brought  with  us  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  and  the  change  that  took  place  in  the 
appearance  of  the  ship  and  the  men  when  this 
began  was  very  remarkable. 

When  we  left  port  our  decks  were  clean, 
our  sails  white,  our  masts  well  scraped;  the 
brass-work  about  the  quarter-deck  was  well 
polished,  and  the  men  looked  tidy  and  clean. 
A  few  hours  after  our  first  whale  had  been 
secured  alongside  all  this  was  changed.  The 
cutting  up  of  the  huge  carcass  covered  the 
decks  with  oil  and  blood,  makins:  them  so 
slippery  that  they  had  to  be  covered  with 
sand  to  enable  the  men  to  walk  about.     Then 


FianTING   THE   WHALES. 


45 


the  smoke  of  the  great  fires  under  the 
melting-pots  begrimed  the  masts,  sails,  and 
cordage  with  soot.  The  faces  and  hands  of 
the  men  got  so  covered  with  oil  and  soot 
that  it  would  have  puzzled  any  one  to  say 
whether  they  were  white  or  black.  Their 
clothes,  too,  became  so  dirty  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  cleun  them.  But,  indeed,  whale- 
men do  not  much  mind  this.  In  fact,  thev 
take  a  pleasure  in  all  the  dirt  that  surrounds 
them,  because  it  is  a  sign  of  success  in  the 
main  object  of  their  voyage.  The  men  in  a 
clean  whale  ship  are  never  happy.  When 
everything  is  filthy,  and  dirty,  and  greasy, 
and  smoky,  and  black  —  decks,  rigging, 
clotheS;  and  persons — it  is  then  that  the 
hearty  laugh  and  jest  and  song  are  heard  as 
the  crew  work  busily,  night  and  day,  at  their 
rough  but  profitable  labor. 

The  operations  of  ''cutting  in"  and  "try- 
ing out"  were  matters  of  great  interest  to  me 
the  first  time  I  saw  them. 

After  having  towed  our  whale  to  the  ship, 
cutting  in  w?s  immediately  begun.  First, 
the  carcass  was  secured  near  the  head  and 
tail  with  chains,  and  made  fast  to  the  ship ; 


46 


FIGHTINQ    THE   WHALES. 


then  the  great  blocks  and  ropes  fastened  to 
the  main  and  foremast  for  hoisting  in  the 
blubber  were  brought  into  play.  When  all 
was  ready,  the  captain  and  the  two  mates 
with  Tom  Lokins  got  upon  the  whale's  body, 
with  long-handled  sharp  spades  or  digging- 
knives.  With  these  they  fell  to  work  cutting 
off  the  blubber. 

I  was  stationed  at  one  of  the  hoisting-ropes, 
and  while  we  were  waiting  for  the  signal  to 
"hoist  away,"  I  peeped  over  the  side,  and  for 
the  first  time  had  a  good  look  at  the  great 
fish.  When  we  killed  it,  so  much  of  its 
body  was  down  in  the  water  that  I  cc  1  not 
see  it  very  clearly,  but  now  that  it  was  uished 
at  full  length  alongside  the  ship,  and  I  could 
look  right  down  upon  it,  I  began  to  understand 
more  clearly  what  a  large  creature  it  was.  One 
thing  surprised  me  much ;  the  top  of  its  head, 
which  was  rough  and  knotty  like  the  bark  of 
an  old  tree,  was  swarming  with  little  crabs 
and  barnacles,  and  other  small  creatures.  The 
whale's  head  seemed  to  be  their  regular  home! 
This  fish  was  by  no  means  one  of  the  largest 
kind,  but  being  the  first  I  had  seen,  I  fancied 
it  must  be  the  largest  fish  in  the  sea. 


FIGIITINQ   THE   WHALES. 


4T 


Its  body  was  forty  feet  long,  and  twenty 
icet  round  at  the  thickest  part.  Its  head, 
which  seemed  to  be  a  great,  blunt,  shapeless 
thing,  like  a  clumsy  old  boat,  was  eight  feet 
long  from  the  tip  to  the  blow-holes  or  nostrils ; 
and  these  holes  were  situated  on  the  back  of 
the  head,  which  at  that  part  was  nearly  four 
feet  broad.  The  entire  head  measured  about 
twenty-one  feet  round.  Its  ears  were  two 
small  holes,  so  small  that  it  was  difficult  to 
discover  them,  and  the  eyes  were  also  very 
small  for  so  large  a  body,  being  about  the 
same  size  as  those  of  an  ox.  The  mouth  was 
Yery  large,  and  the  under  jaw  had  great  ugly 
lips.  When  it  was  dying,  I  saw  these  lips 
close  in  once  or  twice  on  its  fat  cheeks,  which 
it  bulged  out  like  the  leather  sides  of  a  pair 
of  gigantic  bellows.  It  had  two  fins,  one  on 
each  side,  just  behind  the  head.  With  these, 
and  with  its  tail,  the  whale  swims  and  fights. 
Its  tail  is  its  most  deadly  weapon.  The 
flukes  of  this  one  measured  thirteen  feet 
ticross,  and  with  one  stroke  of  this  it  could 
have  smashed  our  largest  boat  in  pieces. 
Many  a  boat  has  been  sent  to  the  bottom  in 
this  way. 


j  mi 


\Vm  i 


!  ;i 


il 


48 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


I  remember  hearing  our  first  mate  tell  of 
a  wonderful  escape  a  comrade  of  his  had  Ie 
the  Greenland  Sea  fishery.  A  whale  had 
been  struck,  and,  after  its  first  run,  they 
hauled  up  to  it  again,  and  rowed  so  hard  thai 
they  ran  the  boat  right  against  it.  The  har- 
pooner  was  standing  on  the  bow  all  ready, 
and  sent  his  iron  cleverly  into  the  blubber. 
In  its  agony  the  whale  reared  its  tail  high 
out  of  the  water,  and  the  flukes  whirled  for 
a  moment  like  a  orreat  fan  iust  above  the 
harpooner^s  head.  One  glance  up  was  enough 
to  show  him  that  certain  death  was  descend- 
ing. In  an  instant  he  dived  over  the  side 
and  disappeared.  Next  moment  the  flukes 
came  down  on  the  part  of  the  boat  he  had 
just  left,  and  cut  it  clean  off;  the  other  part 
was  driven  into  the  waves,  and  the  men  were 
left  swimming  in  the  water.  They  were  all 
picked  up,  however,  by  another  boat  that 
was  in  company,  and  the  harpooner  was  re- 
covered with  the  rest.  His  quick  dive  had 
been  the  saving  of  his  life. 

I  had  not  much  time  given  me  to  study 
the  appearance  of  this  whale  before  the  ordei 
was  given  to  "  hoist  away  1"  so  we  went  to 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


49 


work  with  a  will.  The  first  part  that  oame 
up  was  the  huge  lip,  fastened  to  a  large  iron 
hook,  called  the  blubber-hook.  It  was 
lowered  into  the  blubber-room  between 
decks,  where  a  couple  of  men  were  stationed 
to  stow  the  blubber  away.  Then  came  the 
fins,  and  after  them  the  upper  jaw,  with  the 
whalebone  attached  to  it.  The  "  right"  whale 
has  no  teeth  like  the  sperm  whale.  In  place 
of  teeth  it  has  the  well-known  substance 
called  whalebone,  which  grows  from  the  roof 
of  its  mouth, in  a  number  of  broad  thin  plates, 
extending  from  the  back  of  the  head  to  the 
snout.  The  lower  edges  of  these  plates  of 
whalebone  are  split  into  thousands  of  hairs 
like  bristles,  so  that  the  inside  roof  of  a 
whale's  mouth  resembles  an  enormous  black- 
ing brush !  The  object  of  this  curious  ar- 
rangement is  to  enable  the  whale  to  catch  the 
little  shrimps  and  small  sea-blubbers,  called 
*' medusas,"  on  which  it  feeds.  I  have  spoken 
before  of  these  last  as  being  the  little  crea- 
tures that  gave  out  such  a  beautiful  pale-blue 
light  at  night.  The  whale  feeds  on  them. 
When  he  desires  a  meal  he  opens  his  great 
mouth  and  rushes  into  the  midst  of  a  shoal 


50 


FIGHTING   THE  WHALES. 


of  medusae ;  tlie  little  things  get  entangled  in 
thousands  among  the  haii  y  ends  of  the  whale- 
bone, and  when  the  monster  has  got  a  large 
enough  mouthful,  he  shuts  his  lower  jaw 
and  swallows  what  his  net  has  caught. 

The  wisdom  as  well  as  the  necessity  of 
this  arrangement  is  very  plain.  Of  course, 
while  dashing  through  the  sea  in  this  fashion, 
with  his  mouth  agape,  the  whale  must  keep 
his  throat  closed,  else  the  water  would  rush 
down  it  and  choke  him.  Shutting  his  throat 
then,  as  he  does,  the  water  is  obliged  to  flow 
out  of  his  mouth  as  fast  as  it  flows  in ;  it  is 
also  spouted  up  through  his  blow-holes,  and 
this  with  such  violence  that  many  of  the 
little  creatures  would  be  swept  out  along 
with  it  but  for  the  hairy -ended  whalebone 
which  lets  the  sea-water  out,  but  keeps  the 
medusae  in. 

Well,  let  us  return  to  our  "cutting  in.'' 
After  the  upper-jaw  came  the  lower-jaw  and 
throat,  with  the  tongue.  This  last  was  an 
enormous  mass  of  fat,  about  as  large  as  an 
ox,  and  it  weighed  fifteen  hundred  or  two 
thousand  pounds.  After  this  was  got  in,  the 
rest  of  the  work  was  simple.    The  blubber 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


51 


of  the  body  was  peeled  off  in  great  strips, 
beginning  at  the  neck  and  being  cut  spirally 
towards  the  tail.  It  was  hoisted  on  board 
by  the  blocks,  the  captain  and  mates  cutting, 
and  the  men  at  the  windlass  hoisting,  and 
the  carcass  slowly  turning  round  until  we 
got  an  unbroken  piece  of  blubber,  reaching 
from  the  water  to  nearly  as  high  as  the  main- 
yard-arm.  This  mass  was  nearly  a  foot 
thick,  and  it  looked  like  fat  pork.  It  was 
cut  off  close  to  the  deck,  and  lowered  into 
the  blubber-room,  where  the  two  men  sta- 
tioned there  attacked  it  with  knives,  cut  it 
into  smaller  pieces,  and  stowed  it  away. 
Then  another  piece  was  hoisted  on  board  in 
the  same  fashion,  and  so  on  we  went  till 
every  bit  of  blubber  was  cut  off;  and  I  heard 
the  captain  remark  to  the  mate  when  the 
work  was  done,  that  the  fi^h  was  a  good  fat 
one,  and  he  wouldn't  wonder  if  it  turned  out 
to  be  worth  £300. 

Now,  when  this  process  was  going  on,  a 
new  point  of  interest  arose  which  I  had  not 
thought  of  before,  although  my  messmate, 
Tom  Lokins,  had  often  spoken  of  it  on  the 
voyage  out.     This  was  the  arrival  of  great 

numbers  of  sea-birds. 
6* 


52 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


Tom  bad  often  told  me  of  the  birds  that 
always  keep  company  with  whalers;  but  I 
had  forgotten  al)  about  it  until  I  saw  an  enor- 
mous albatross  come  sailing  majestically 
through  the  air  towards  us.  This  was  the 
largest  bird  I  ever  saw,  and  no  wonder,  for 
it  is  the  largest  bird  that  flies.  Soon  after 
that,  another  arrived,  and  although  we  were 
more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  any  shore, 
we  were  speedily  scented  out  and  surrounded 
by  hosts  of  gonies,  stinkards,  haglets,  gulls, 
pigeons,  petrels,  and  other  sea-birds,  which 
commenced  to  feed  on  pieces  of  the  whale's 
carcass  with  the  most  savage  gluttony. 
These  birds  were  dreadfully  greedy.  They 
had  stuffed  themselves  so  full  in  the  course 
of  a  short  time,  that  they  flew  heavily  and 
with  great  dif&culty.  No  doubt  they  would 
have  to  take  three  or  four  days  to  digest  that 
meal ! 

Sharks,  too,  came  to  get  their  share  of 
what  was  going.  But  these  savage  monsters 
did  not  content  themselves  with  what  was 
thrown  away  ;  they  were  so  bold  as  to  come 
before  Dur  faces  and  take  bites  out  of  the 
whale's  bo(f  y.    Some  of  these  sharks  were 


FIGHTING  THE   WHALES. 


53 


eiglit  and  nine  feet  long,  and  when  I  saw 
them  open  their  horrid  jaws,  armed  with 
three  rows  of  glistening  white  sharp  teeth,  I 
could  well  understand  how  easily  they  could 
bite  off  the  leg  of  a  man,  as  they  often  do 
when  they  get  the  chance.  Sometimes  they 
would  come  right  up  on  the  whale's  body 
with  a  wave,  bite  out  great  pieces  of  the 
flesh,  turn  over  on  their  bellies,  and  roll  off. 

While  I  was  looking  over  the  side  during 
the  early  part  of  that  day,  I  saw  a  very  large 
shark  come  rolling  up  in  this  way  close  to 
Tom  Lokins's  legs.  Tom  made  a  cut  at  him 
with  his  blubber-spade,  but  the  shark  rolled 
off  in  time  to  escape  the  blow.  And  after 
all  it  would  not  havv3  done  him  much  damage, 
for  it  is  not  easy  to  frighten  or  take  the  life 
out  of  a  shark. 

"  Hand  me  an  iron  and  lino,  Bob,"  said 
Tom,  looking  up  at  me.  "  I've  got  a  spite 
agin  tha"-  feller.  He's  been  up  twice  already. 
Ah !  hand  it  down  here,  and  two  or  three  of 
ye  stand  by  to  hold  on  by  the  line.  There 
he  comes,  the  big  villain  1" 

The  shark  came  close  to  the  side  of  tha 
whale  at  that  moment,  and  Tom  sent  the 
harpoon  right  down  his  throat. 


54 


FIGHTING  THE   WHALES. 


"  Hold  on  hard,"  shouted  Tom. 

"Ay,  ay,"  replied  several  of  the  men  as 
ihey  held  on  to  the  line,  their  arms  jerking 
violently  as  the  savage  fish  tried  to  free  it- 
self. We  quickly  reeved  a  line  through  a 
block  at  the  fore  yard  arm,  and  hauled  it  on 
deck  with  much  difficulty.  The  scene  that 
followed  was  very  horrible,  for  there  was  no 
killing  the  brute.*  It  threshed  the  deck 
with  its  tail,  and  snapped  so  fiercely  with 
its  tremendous  jaws,  that  we  had  to  keep  a 
sharp  look  out  lest  it  should  catch  hold  of  a 
leg.  At  last  its  tail  was  cut  off,  the  body 
cut  open,  and  all  the  entrails  taken  out,  yet 
even  after  this  it  continued  to  flap  and  thresh 
about  the  deck  for  some  time,  and  the  heart 
continued  to  contract  for  twenty  minutes 
after  it  was  taken  out  and  pierced  with  a 
knife. 

I  would  not  have  believed  this  had  I  not 
seen  it  with  my  own  eyes.  In  case  some  of 
my  readers  may  doubt  its  truth,  I  would  re- 
mind them  how  difficult  it  is  to  kill  some  of 
those  creatures  with  which  we  are  all  familiar. 
The  common  worm,  for  instance,  may  be  out 

*Se«  Frontispiece. 


FIGHTING  THE   WHALES. 


55 


into  a  number  of  small  pieces,  and  yet  eacli 
piece  remains  alive  for  some  time  after. 

The  skin  of  the  shark  is  valued  by  the 
whalemen,  because,  when  cleaned  and  dry, 
it  is  as  good  as  sand-paper,  and  is  much  used 
in  polishing  the  various  things  they  make 
out  of  whales'  bones  and  teeth. 

When  the  last  piece  of  blubber  had  been 
cut  off  our  whale,  the  great  chain  that  held 
it  to  the  ship's  side  was  cast  off,  and  the  now 
useless  carcass  sank  like  a  stone,  much  to  the 
sorrow  of  some  of  the  smaller  birds,  which, 
having  been  driven  away  by  their  bigger 
comrades,  had  not  fed  so  heartily  as  they 
wished,  perhaps !  But  what  was  loss  to  the 
gulls  was  gain  to  the  sharks,  which  could 
follow  the  carcass  down  into  the  deep  and 
devour  it  at  their  leisure. 

"  Now,  lads,"  cried  the  mate,  when  the  re- 
mains had  vanished,  ''rouse  up  the  fires,  look 
alive  my  hearties !" 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir,"  was  th^  ready  reply,  cheer- 
fully given,  as  every  man  sprang  to  his  ap- 
pointed duty. 

And  so,  having  ''cut  in"  our  whale,  we 
next  proceeded  to  "  try  out'*  the  oil. 


56 


flQHTINQ  THE   WHALES. 


CHAPTER  V. 


A  STORM,  A  MAN  OVERBOARD,  AND  A  RESCUE. 

'T^HE  scenes  in  a  whaleman's  life  are  varied 
-■-  and  very  stirring.  Sometimes  he  is 
floating  on  the  calm  ocean,  idling  about  the 
deck  and  whistling  for  a  breeze,  when  all  of 
a  sudden  the  loud  cry  is  heard,  "  There  she 
blows !"  and  in  a  moment  the  boats  are  in 
the  water,  and  he  is  engaged  in  all  the  toils 
of  an  exciting  chase.  Then  comes  the  battle 
with  the  great  leviathan  of  the  deep,  with  all 
its  risks  and  dangers.  Sometimes  he  is  un- 
fortunate, the  decks  are  clean,  he  has  nothing 
to  do.  At  other  times  he  is  lucky,  ''cutting 
in"  and  "trying  out"  engage  all  his  energies 
and  attention.  Frequently  storms  toss  him 
on  the  angry  deep,  and  show  him,  if  he  will 
but  learn  the  lesson,  how  helpless  a  creature 
he  is,  and  how  thoroughly  dependent  at  all 
times  for  life,  safety,  and  success,  upon  the 
arm  of  God. 

"Trying  out"  the  oil,  although  not  so 
thrilling  a  scene  as  many  a  one  in  his  career, 
is,  nevertheless,  extremely  interesting,  espe- 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


57 


cially  at  night,  when  the  glare  of  the  fires  in 
the  try-works  casts  a  deep  red  glow  on  the 
faces  of  the  men,  on  the  masts  and  sails,  and 
even  out  upon  the  sea. 

The  try- works  consisted  of  two  huge  melt- 
ing-pots fixed  upon  brick-work  fireplaces 
between  the  fore  and  main  masts.  While 
some  of  the  men  were  down  in  the  blubber- 
room  cutting  the  ^'blanket- pieces/'  as  the 
largest  masses  are  called,  others  were  pitch- 
ing the  smaller  pieces  on  deck,  where  they 
were  seized  by  two  men  who  stood  near  a 
block  of  wood,  called  "a  horse,"  with  a 
mincing  knife,  to  slash  the  junks  so  as  to 
make  them  melt  easily.  These  were  then 
thrown  into  the  melting-pots  by  one  of  the 
mates,  who  kept  feeding  the  fire  with  such 
"scraps"  of  blubber  as  remain  after  the  oil 
is  taken  out.  Once  the  fires  were  fairly  set 
agoing  no  other  kind  of  fuel  was  required 
than  "scraps"  of  blubber.  As  the  boiling 
oil  rose  it  was  baled  into  copper  cooling- 
tanks.  It  was  the  duty  of  two  other  men  to 
dip  it  out  of  these  tanks  into  casks,  which 
were  then  headed  up  by  our  cooper,  and 
stowed  away  in  the  hold. 


58 


FIGHTINO   THE    WHALES. 


As  the  II i gilt  advanced  tlie  fires  became 
redder  and  brighter  by  contrast,  the  liglit 
shone  and  glittered  on  tlie  bK)ody  decks,  and, 
as  we  plied  our  dirty  work,  I  coiikl  not  hel|) 
thinking,  "what  wouhl  my  mother  say,  if 
she  coLikl  get  a  peep  at  me  now?" 

Tlie  ship's  crew  worked  and  slept  by 
watches,  for  the  fires  were  not  allowed  to  go 
out  all  night.  About  midnight  I  sat  down 
on  the  windlass  to  take  a  short  rest,  and  be- 
gan talking  to  one  of  the  men,  Fred  Borders 
by  name,  lie  was  one  of  the  quietest  and 
most  active  men  in  the  ship,  and  being  quite 
a  young  man,  not  more  than  nineteen,  he 
and  I  drew  to  one  another,  and  became  very 
intimate. 

"I  think  we're  goin' to  have  a  breeze,  Bob," 
said  he,  as  a  sharp  pufi'of  wind  crossed  the 
deck,  driving  the  black  smoke  to  leeward, 
and  making  the  fire  flare  up  in  the  try- works. 

"I  hope  it  won't  be  a  storm,  then," said  I, 
*'  for  it  will  oblige  us  to  put  out  the  fires." 

Just  then  Tom  Lokins  came  up,  ordered 
Fred  to  go  and  attend  to  the  fires,  sat  down 
opposite  to  me  on  the  windlass,  and  began  tc 
''  lay  down  the  law"  in  regard  to  storms. 


1     ..:         • 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


59 


'*  You  see,  Boo  Ledbury,"  said  he,  begin- 
ning to  fill  his  pipe,  "  young  fellers  like  you 
don't  know  nothin'  about  the  weather — 
'cause  why  ?  you've  got  no  experience.  Now, 
I'll  put  you  up  to  a  dodge  consarning  this 
very  thing." 

I  never  found  out  what  was  the  dodge  that 
Tom,  in  his  wisdom,  was  to  have  put  me  up 
to,  for  at  that  moment  the  captain  came  on 
deck,  and  gave  orders  to  furl  the  top-gallant 
sails. 

Three  or  four  of  us  ran  up  the  rigging 
like  monkeys,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  sails 
were  lashed  to  the  yards. 

The  wind  now  began  to  blow  steadily  from 
the  nor'-west ;  but  not  so  hard  as  to  stop  our 
try-works  for  more  than  an  hour.  After  that 
it  blew  stift'  enough  to  raise  a  heavy  sea,  and 
we  were  compelled  to  slack  the  fires.  This 
was  all  the  harm  it  did  to  us,  however,  for 
although  the  breeze  was  stiffish,  it  was  nothing 
like  a  gale. 

As  the  captain  and  the  first  mate  walked 
the  quarter-deck  together,  I  heard  the  for- 
mer say  to  the  latter,  "T  think  we  had  as 
well  take  in  9  reef  in  the  to^ils.  All  here- 
6 


w 


■HMP 


60 


FIGHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


abouts  the  fishing-ground  is  good,  we  don't 
need  to  carry  on." 

The  order  was  given  to  reduce  sail,  and  ' 
the  men  lay  out  on  the  topsail  yards.  I 
noticed  that  my  friend  Fred  Borders  was  the 
first  man  to  spring  up  the  shrouds  and  lay 
out  on  the  maintop-sail  yard.  It  was  so  dark 
that  I  could  scarcely  see  the  masts,  While 
I  was  gazing  up,  I  thought  I  observed  a 
dark  object  drop  from  the  yard ;  at  the  same 
moment  there  was  a  loud  shriek,  followed  by 
a  plunge  in  the  sea.  This  was  succeeded  by 
the  sudden  cry,  "Man  overboard!"  and 
instantly  the  whole  ship  was  in  an  uproar. 

No  one  who  has  not  heard  that  cry  can 
understand  the  dreadful  feelings  that  are 
raised  in  the  human  breast  by  it.  My  heart 
at  first  seemed  to  leap  into  my  mouth,  and 
almost  choke  me.  Then  a  terrible  fear, 
which  I  cannot  describe,  shot  through  me, 
when  I  thought  it  might  be  my  comrade 
Fred  Borders.  But  these  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings passed  like  lightning — in  a  far  shorter 
time  than  it  takes  to  write  them  down.  The 
shriek  was  still  ringing  in  my  ears,  when  the 
captain  roared 


FIUHTINQ   THE  WHALES. 


61 


*•  Down  your  helm  I  stand  by  to  lower  away 
the  boats." 

At  tlie  same  moment  he  seized  a  light  hen- 
coop and  tossed  it  overboard,  and  the  mate 
did  the  same  with  an  oar  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  Almost  without  knowing  what  I 
did,  or  why  I  did  it,  I  seized  a  great  mass  of 
oakuip  and  rubbish  that  lay  on  the  deck 
saturate  1  with  oiL  I  thrust  it  into  the  embers 
of  the  fire  in  the  try-works,  and  hurled  it 
blazing  into  the  sea. 

The  ship's  head  was  thrown  into  the  wind, 
and  we  were  brought  to  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible. A  gleam  of  hope  arose  within  me  on 
observing  that  the  mass  I  had  thrown  over- 
board continued  still  to  burn ;  but  when  I 
saw  how  quickly  it  went  astern,  notwith- 
standirg  our  vigorous  efforts  to  stop  the  ship, 
my  heart  bci.  m  to  sink,  and  when,  a  few 
moments  after,  ihe  light  suddenly  disappear- 
ed, despair  seized  upon  me,  and  I  gave  my 
friend  up  for  lost. 

At  that  moment,  strange  to  sny,  thoughts 
of  my  mother  came  into  my  mind,  I  remem- 
bered her  words,  ''  Call  upon  the  Lord,  my 
dear  boy    when  you  are  in  trouble."     Al- 


62 


FIGHTINa  THE  WHALES. 


tliougli  I  had  given  but  little  heed  to  prayer, 
or  to  my  Maker,  up  to  that  time,  I  did  pray, 
then  and  there,  most  earnestly  that  my  mess- 
mate might  be  saved.  I  cannot  say  that  I 
had  much  hope  that  my  prayer  would  be 
answered — indeed  I  think  I  had  none — still 
the  mere  act  of  crying  in  my  distress  to  the 
Almighty  afforded  me  a  little  relief,  and  it 
was  with  a  good  deal  of  energy  that  I  threw 
myself  into  the  first  boat  that  was  lowered, 
and  pulled  at  the  oar  as  if  my  own  life  de- 
pended on  it. 

A  lantern  had  been  fastened  to  the  end  of 
an  oar  and  set  up  in  the  boat,  and  by  its 
faint  light  I  could  see  that  the  men  looked 
very  grave.  Tom  Lokins  was  steering,  and 
I  sat  near  him,  pulling  the  aft  oar. 

"Do  you  think  we've  any  chance,  Tom?" 
said  I. 

A  shake  of  the  head  was  his  only  reply. 

"It  must  have  been  here  away,"  said  the 
mate,  who  stood  up  in  the  bow  with  a  coil 
of  rope  at  his  feet,  and  a  boat-hook  in  his 
hand.  "Hold  on,  lads,  did  any  one  hear  a 
cry  ?" 

No  one  answered.     "We  all  ceased  pulling 


FIGHTING   THE   WaALES. 


68 


and  listened  intently ;  but  the  noise  of  the 
waves  and  the  whistling  of  the  winds  were 
all  the  sounds  we  heard. 

"  What's  that  floating  on  the  water  ?"  said 
one  of  the  men,  suddenly. 

"  Where  away  ?"  cried  every  one  eagerly. 

^'  Eight  oft*  the  lee-bow — there,  don't  you 
see  it?" 

At  that  moment  a  faint  cry  came  floating 
over  the  black  water,  and  died  away  in  the 
breeze. 

The  single  word  '^  Hurrah  I"  burst  from  our 
throats  with  all  the  power  of  our  lungs,  and 
we  bent  to  our  oars  till  we  wellnigh  tore  the 
rollicks  out  of  the  boat. 

"Hold  hard!  stern  all!"  roared  the  mate, 
as  we  went  flying  down  to  leeward,  and  al- 
most ran  over  the  hen- coop,  to  which  a  hu- 
man form  was  seen  to  be  clinging  v/ith  the 
tenacity  of  a  drowning  man.  We  had  swept 
down  so  quickly,  that  we  shot  past  it.  In 
an  agony  of  fear  lest  my  friend  should  be 
again  lost  in  the  darkness,  I  leaped  up  and 
sprang  into  the  sea.  Tom  Lokins,  however, 
had  noticed  what  I  was  about ;  he  seized  me 
by  the  collar  of  my  jacket  just  as  I  reached 
6* 


64 


FIGHTING  THE  WHALES. 


the  water,  and  held  me  with  a  grip  like  a 
vice  till  one  of  the  men  came  to  his  assistance, 
and  dragged  me  back  into  the  boat.  In  a 
few  moments  more  we  reached  the  hen-coop, 
and  Fred  was  saved ! 

He  was  half  dead  with  cold  and  exhaus- 
tion, poor  fellow,  but  in  a  few  minutes  he 
began  to  recover  and  before  we  reached  the 
ship  he  could  speak.  His  first  words  were 
to  thank  God  for  his  deliverance.  Then  he 
added — 

'*  And  thanks  to  the  man  that  flung  that 
light  overboard.  I  should  have  gone  down 
but  for  that.  It  showed  me  where  the  hen- 
coop was." 

I  cannot  describe  the  feeling  of  joy  that 
filled  my  heart  when  he  said  this. 

"  Ay,  who  wos  it  that  throw'd  that  fire 
overboard?"  inquired  one  of  the  men. 

"Don't  know,"  replied  another,  *'I  think 
it  wos  the  cap'n." 

"  You'll  find  that  out  when  we  get  aboard," 
cried  the  mate  ;  '*  pull  away,  lads." 

In  five  minutes  Fred  Borders  was  passed 
up  the  side  and  taken  down  below.  In  two 
minutes  more  we  had  him  stripped  naked, 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


65 


rubbed  dry,  wrapped  in  hot  blankets,  and 
set  down  on  one  of  the  lockers,  with  a  hot 
brick  at  his  feet,  and  a  stiff  can  of  hot  rum 
and  water  in  his  hand. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  WHALE — FIGHTING  BULLS,  AC. 

AS  the  reader  may,  perhaps,  have  been 
asking  a  few  questions  about  the 
whale  in  his  own  mind,  I  shall  try  to  answer 
them,  by  telling  a  few  things  concerning  that 
creature  which,  I  think,  are  worth  knowing. 
In  the  first  place,  the  whale  is  not  a  fish ! 
I  have  applied  that  name  to  it,  no  doubt,  be- 
cause it  is  the  custom  to  do  so ;  but  there  are 
great  differences  between  the  whales  and  the 
fishes.  The  mere  fact  that  the  whale  lives  in 
water  is  not  sufficient  to  prove  it  to  be  a  fish. 
The  frog  lives  very  much  in  water — he  is 
born  in  the  water,  and,  when  very  young, 
he  lives  in  it  altogether — would  die,  in  fact, 
if  he  were  taken  out  of  it ;  yet  a  frog  is  not 
a  fish. 


66 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


ii! 


The  following  are  some  of  the  differences 
existing  between  a  whale  and  a  fish : — The 
whale  is  a  warm-blooded  animal ;  the  fish  is 
cold-blooded.  The  whale  brings  forth  its 
young  alive ;  while  most  fishes  lay  eggs  or 
spawn.  Moreover,  ,the  fish  lives  entirely 
under  water,  but  the  whale  cannot  do  so. 
He  breathes  air  through  enormous  lungs,  not 
gills.  If  you  were  to  hold  a  whalers  head 
under  water  for  much  longer  than  an  hour, 
it  would  certainly  be  drowned ;  and  this  is 
the  reason  why  it  comes  so  frequently  to  the 
surface  of  the  sea  to  take  breath.  Whales 
seldom  stay  more  than  an  hour  under  water, 
and  when  they  come  up  to  breathe,  they  dis- 
charge the  last  breath  they  took  through 
their  nostrils  or  blow-holes,  mixed  with  large 
quantities  of  water  which  they  have  taken  in 
while  feeding.  But  the  m<jst  remarkable 
point  of  difference  betM^een  the  whale  and 
fishes  of  all  kinds  is,  that  it  suckles  its  young. 

The  calf  of  one  kind  of  whale  is  about 
fourteen  feet  long  when  it  is  born,  and  it 
weighs  about  a  ton.  The  cow-whale  usually 
brings  forth  only  one  calf  at  a  time,  and  the 
manner  in  which  she  behaves  to  her  gigantic 


FIQHTINQ  THE   WHALES. 


67 


baby  shows  that  she  is  affected  by  feelings 
of  anxiet}r  and  affection  such  as  are  never 
seen  in  fishes,  which  heartless  creatures  for- 
sake their  eggs  when  they  are  laid,  and  I  am 
pretty  sure  they  would  not  know  their  own 
children  if  they  happened  to  meet  with  them. 

The  whale,  on  the  contrary,  takes  care  of 
her  little  one,  gives  it  suck,  and  sports  play- 
fully with  it  in  the  waves;  its  enormous 
heart  throbbing  all  the  while,  no  doubt,  with 
satisfaction. 

I  have  heard  of  a  whale  which  was  once 
driven  into  shoal  water  with  its  calf  and 
nearly  stranded.  The  huge  dam  seemed  to 
become  anxious  for  the  safety  of  her  child, 
for  she  was  seen  to  swim  eagerly  round  it, 
embrace  it  with  her  fins,  and  roll  it  over  in 
the  waves,  trying  to  make  it  follow  her  into 
deep  water.  But  the  calf  was  obstinate ;  it 
would  not  go,  and  the  result  was  that  the 
boat  of  a  whaler  pulled  up  and  harpooned  it. 
The  poor  little  whale  darted  away  like  light- 
ning on  receiving  the  terrible  iron,  and  ran 
out  a  hundred  fathoms  of  line ;  but  it  was 
soon  overhauled  and  killed.  All  this  time 
the  dam  kept  close  to  the  side  of  its  calf, 


':m 


68 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


and  not  until  a  harpoon  was  plunged  into 
her  own  side  would  she  move  away.  Two 
boats  were  alter  her.  With  a  single  mp  of 
her  tail  she  cut  one  of  tlie  boats  in  two,  and 
then  darted  off.  But  in  a  short  time  she 
turned  and  came  back.  Her  feelings  of 
anxiety  had  returned,  no  doubt,  after  the 
first  sting  of  pain  was  over,  and  slie  died  at 
last  close  to  the  side  of  her  young  one. 

There  are  various  kinds  of  whales,  but  thu 
two  sorts  that  ai  most  sought  after  are  the 
common  whale  of  the  Greenland  Seas,  which 
is  called  the  "  r'  ,ht  whale,"  and  the  sperm 
whale  of  the  South  Sea.  Both  kinds  are 
found  in  the  south ;  but  the  sperm  whale 
never  goes  to  the  North  Seas.  Both  kinds 
grow  to  an  enormous  size — sometimes  to 
seventy  feet  in  length,  but  there  is  consider- 
able differt  nee  in  their  appearance,  especially 
bout  the  head.  In  a  former  chapter  I  have 
partly  described  the  head  of  a  rigid  whale, 
which  has  whalebone  instead  of  teeth,  with 
its  blow-holes  on  the  back  of  the  head.  The 
sperm  whale  has  large  white  teeth  in  its 
lower  jaw  and  none  at  all  in  the  upper.  It 
has  only  one  blow-hole,  and  that  a  little  one, 


FIOHTINO   THE    WHALES. 


69 


mucli  farther  forward  on  its  head,  so  that 
sailors  can  tell,  at  a  great  distance,  what  kind 
of  whales  they  see  simply  by  their  manner 
of  spouting. 

The  mosL  remarkable  feature  about  the 
sperm  whale  is  the  bluntncss  of  its  clumsy 
head,  which  looks  somewhat  like  a  big  log 
with  the  end  sawn  square  off,  and  this  head 
is  about  one  third  of  its  entire  body. 

The  sperm  whale  feeds  differently  from  the 
right  whale.  He  seizes  his  prey  with  his 
powerful  teeth,  and  lives,  to  a  great  extent, 
on  large  cuttle  fish.  Some  of  them  have  been 
seen  to  vomit  lumps  of  these  cuttle-fish  as 
long  as  a  whale-boat.  He  is  much  fiercer, 
too,  than  the  right  whale,  which  almost 
always  takes  to  flight  when  struck,  but  the 
sperm  whale  will  sometimes  turn  on  its  foes 
and  smash  their  boat  with  a  blow  of  his  blunt 
hep "    r  tail. 

i^ighting  whales,  as  they  are  called,  are 
not  uncommon.  These  are  generally  old 
bulls,  which  have  become  wise  from  experi- 
ence, and  give  the  whalers  great  trouble — • 
sometimes  carrying  away  several  harpoons 
and  lines.    The  lower  jaw  of  one  old  bull  of 


70 


riGHTINQ   TUE   WHALES. 


this  kind  was  found  to  be  sixteen  feet  long, 
and  it  had  forty-eight  teeth,  some  of  them  a 
foot  long.  A  number  of  scars  about  his 
head  showed  tliat  this  fellow  had  been  in  the 
wars.  When  two  bull-whales  take  to  fight- 
ing, their  great  effort  is  to  catch  each  other 
by  the  lower  jaw,  and,  when  locked  together, 
they  struggle  with  a  degree  of  fury  that  can- 
not be  described. 

It  is  not  often  that  the  sperm  whale  actu- 
ally attacks  a  ship;  but  there  are  a  few  cases 
of  this  kind  which  cannot  be  doubted.  The 
following  story  is  certainly  true ;  and  while 
it  shows  how  powerful  a  creature  the  whale 
is,  it  also  shows  what  terrible  risk  and  suf- 
ferings the  whaleman  has  frequently  to  en- 
counter. 

In  the  month  of  August  1819,  the  Ameri- 
can whaleahip  "Essex"  sailed  from  Nan- 
tucket for  the  Pacific  Ocean.  She  was  com- 
manded by  Captain  Pollard.  Late  in  the 
autumn  of  the  same  year,  when  in  latitude 
40°  of  the  South  Pacific,  a  shoal,  or  "  school," 
of  sperm  whales  were  discovered,  and  three 
boats  were  immediately  lowered  and  sent  in 
pursuit.     The  mate's  boat  was  struck  by  one 


I  i!     ' 


nOIITINO    THE   WHALES. 


7! 


of  the  fisli  during  tlie  chase,  and  it  was  found 
necessary  to  return  to  the  «hip  to  repair 
damages. 

While  the  nnen  were  employed  at  this,  an 
enormous  wliale  suddenly  rose  quite  close  to 
tlie  ship.  He  was  going  at  nearly  the  same 
rate  with  the  ship — about  three  miles  an 
hour;  and  the  men,  who  were  good  judges 
of  the  size  of  whales,  thought  that  it  could 
not  have  been  less  than  eighty-five  feet  long. 
All  at  once  he  ran  against  ilie  ship,  striking 
her  bows,  and  causing  hei'  to  tremble  liko  a 
leaf.  The  whale  immediately  dived  and 
passed  under  the  ship,  and  grazed  her  keel 
in  doing  so.  This  evidently  hurt  his  back, 
for  he  suddenly  rose  to  the  surface  about 
fifty  yards  oft",  and  commenced  lashing  tlie 
sea  with  his  tail  and  fins  as  if  suffering  great 
agony.  It  was  truly  an  awful  sight  to  be- 
hold that  great  monster  lashing  the  sea  into 
foam  at  so  short  a  distance. 

In  a  short  time  he  seemed  to  recover,,  and 
started  off  at  great  speed  to  windward, 
^leanwhile  the  men  discovered  that  the  blow 
received  by  the  ship  had  done  her  so  much 
damage,  that  she  began  to  fill  and  settle 
7 


1 


72 


FIGHTING    THE    WHALES. 


ill:! 


Ill  I  '\ 


down  at  the  bows ;  so  they  rigged  the  pumps 
as  quickly  as  possible.  While  working  them 
one  of  the  men  cried  out — 

''God  have  mercy!  he  comes  again!" 

This  was  too  true.  The  whale  had  turned, 
and  was  now  bearing  down  on  them  at  full 
speed,  leaving  a  white  track  of  foam  behind 
him.  Eushing  at  the  ship  like  a  battering- 
ram,  he  hit  her  fair  on  the  weather  bow  and 
•stove  it  in,  after  which  he  dived  and  disap- 
peared. The  horrified  men  took  to  their 
boats  at  once,  and  in  ten  minutes  tlie  ship 
ivent  down. 

The  condition  of  the  men  thus  left  in  three 
•open  boats  far  out  upon  the  sea,  without 
provisions  or  slielter,  was  terrible  indeed. 
;Some  of  them  perished,  and  the  rest,  after 
suffering  the  severest  hardships,  reached  a 
low  island  called  Ducies,  on  the  20th  of  De- 
cember. It  was  a  mere  sand-bank,  which 
supplied  them  only  with  water  and  sea-fcAvl. 
.Still  even  this  was  a  inercy,  for  which  they 
had  reason  to  thank  God ;  for  in  cases  of 
this  kind  one  of  the  evils  that  seamen  have 
most  cause  to  drea,d  is  the  want  of  water. 

Three  of  the  men  rerolved  to  remain  on 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


73 


this  sand-bank,  for,  dreary  and  uninhabited 
though  it  was,  they  preferred  to  take  tlieir 
chance  of  being  picked  up  by  a  passing  ship 
rather  than  run  tlie  risks  of  crossing  the  wide 
ocean  in  open  boats,  so  their  companions 
bade  them  a  sorrowful  farewell,  and  left 
them.  But  this  isL'ind  is  far  out  of  the  usual 
track  of  ships.  The  poor  fellows  have  never 
since  been  heard  >)£ 

It  was  the  27th  of  December  when  the 
three  boats  left  the  sand-bank  witli  the  re- 
mainder of  the  men,  and  began  a  voyage  of 
two  thousand  miles,  towards  the  ishmd  of 
Juan  Fernandez.  The  mate's  boat  was 
picked  up.  about  three  months  after,  by  the 
ship  "  Indian"  of  London,  with  only  three 
living  men  in  it.  About  tue  same  time  the 
captain's  boat  was  discovered,  by  the  ''Dau- 
phin" of  Nantucket,  with  only  two  men 
living;  and  these  unhappy  beings  had  only 
sustained  life  bv  feedinL?  on  the  flesh  of  their 
dead  comrades.  The  third  boat  must  have 
been  lost,  for  it  was  never  heard  of;  and  out 
of  the  Vv^hole  crew  of  twenty  men,  only  five 
returned  home  to  tell  their  eventful  story. 

Before  resuming  the  thread  of  my  narra- 


74 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


•tit 

ii 


Hill,! 


i    I   > 


tive,  I  must  not  omit  to  mention,  that  in  the 
head  of  the  sperm  whale  there  is  a  large 
cavity  or  hole  called  the  "case,"  which  con- 
tains pure  oil  that  does  not  require  to  be 
melted,  but  can  be  baled  at  once  into  casks 
and  stowed  away.  This  is  the  valuable  sper- 
macoti  from  which  the  finest  candles  are 
made.  One  whale  will  sometimes  yield  fifteen 
barrels  of  spermaceti  oil  from  the  "case"  of 
its  head.  A  large  fish  will  produce  from 
eighty  to  a  hundred  barrels  of  oil  altogether, 
sometimes  much  more;  and  when  whalemen 
converse  with  each  other  about  the  size  of 
whales,  they  speak  of  "  eighty-barrel  fish," 
and  so  on. 

Although  I  have  written  much  about  the 
fighting  powers  of  the  sperm  wliale,  it  must  not 
be  supposed  that  whales  are  by  nature  fond  of 
fighting.  On  the  contrary,  the  "  right"  whale 
is  a  timid  creature,  and  never  shows  fight 
except  in  defence  of  its  young.  And  the 
sperm  whale  generally  takes  to  flight  when 
pursued.  In  fact,  most  of  the  accidents  that 
happen  to  whalemen  occur  vvlien  the  wounded 
monster  is  lashing  the  water  in  blind  terror 
and  agony. 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


76 


The  whale  has  three  bitter  enemies,  much 
smaller,  but  much  bolder  than  himself,  and 
of  these  he  is  terribly  afraid.  They  are — the 
sword-fish,  the  thrasher,  and  the  killer.  The 
first  of  these,  the  sword-fish,  has  a  strong 
straight  horn  or  sword  projecting  from  his 
snout,  witli  which  he  boldly  attacks  and 
pierces  the  whale.  The  thrasher  is  a  strong 
fish,  twenty  feet  long,  and  of  great  weight. 
Its  metliod  of  attack  is  to  leap  out  of  the 
water  on  the  whale's  back,  and  deal  it  a  tre- 
mendous blow  with  its  powerful  tail. 

The  sword-fish  and  thrasher  sometimes  act 
together  in  the  attack  ;  the  first  stabbing  him 
below,  and  the  second  belaboring  him  above, 
while  the  whale,  unable,  or  too  frightened  to 
fight,  rushes  through  the  water,  and  even 
leaps  its  whole  gigantic  length  into  the  air 
in  its  endeavors  to  escape.  When  a  whale 
tlms  leaps  his  whole  length  out  of  the  water, 
the  sailors  say  he  '*  breaches,"  and  breaching 
is  a  common  practice.  They  seem  to  do  it 
often  for  amusement  as  well  as  from  terror. 

But  the  most  deadly  of  the  three  enemies 

is  the  killer.     This  is  itself  a  kind  of  small 

whale,   but  it  is  wonderfully  strong,  swift, 
7  * 


76 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


and  bold.  When  one  of  the  killers  gets  into 
the  middle  of  a  school  of  whales,  the  fright- 
ened creatures  are  seen  flying  in  all  direc- 
tions. His  mode  of  attack  is  to  seize  his  big 
enemy  by  the  jaw,  and  hold  on  uqtil  he  is 
exhausted  and  dies. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TOM'S  wisdom — ANOTHER  GREAT  BATTLE. 

i^^NE  day  I  was  standing  beside  the  wind- 
^^  lass,  listening  to  the  conversation  of  five 
or  six  of  the  men,  who  were  busy  si.  oening 
harpoons  and  cutting-knives,  or  making  all 
kinds  of  toys  and  things  out  of  whale's  bones. 
We  had  just  finished  cutting  in  and  trying 
out  our  third  whale,  and  as  it  was  not  long 
since  we  reached  the  fishing-ground,  we 
were  in  high  hopes  of  making  a  good  thing 
of  it  that  season ;  so  that  every  one  was  in 
good  spirits,  from  the  captain  down  to  the 
youngest  man  in  the  ship. 

Tom   Lokins  was  smoking  his  pipe,  and 


FIGHTING    THE    WHALES. 


77 


Tom's  pipe  was  an  uncommonly  black  one, 
for  he  smoked  it  very  often.  Moreover, 
Tom's  pipe  was  uncommonly  short,  so  short 
that  I  always  wondered  how  he  escaped  burn- 
ing the  end  of  li--'  nose.  Indeed,  some  of  the 
men  said  that  the  redness  of  the  end  of  Tom's 
nose  was  owing  to  its  being  baked  like  a  brick 
by  the  heat  of  his  pipe.  Tom  took  this  pipe 
from  his  mouth,  and  while  he  wa»  pushing 
down  the  tobacco  with  the  end  of  his  little 
finger  he  said — 

D'ye  know,  lads,  I've  been  thinkin' — " 

"No,  have  ye?"  cried  one  of. the  men, 
interrupting  him  with  a  look  of  pretended 
surprise.  "  Well,  now,  I  do  think,  mess- 
mates, that  we  should  ax  the  mate  to  make 
a  note  o'  that  in  the  log,  for  it's  not  often 
that  Tom  Lokins  takes  to  thinkin'." 

There  was  a  laugh  at  this,  but  Tom,  turn- 
ing with  a  look  of  contempt  to  the  man  who 
interrupted  him,  replied — 

"I\^  tell  vou  wot  it  is,  Bill  Blunt,  if  all 
the  thoughts  that  you  think,  ard  especially 
the  jokes  that  you  utter,  y^Oii  put  down  in 
the  log,  they'd  be  so  heavy  that  I  do  believe 
they  would  sink  the  ship!" 


78 


FIGHTING   THE    WHALES. 


"  "Well,  well,"  cried  Bill,  join  ng  in  the 
laugh  against  himself,  "if  they  did,  your 
jokes  would  be  so  light  and  triflin'  that  I 
do  believe  they'd  float  her  again.  But  what 
have  you  been  a-thinkin'  of,  Tom  ?" 

"I've  been  thinkin',''  said  Tom,  slowly, 
"that  if  a  whale  makes  his  breakfast  entirely 
off  them  little  things  that  you  can  hardly 
see  when  you  get  'em  into  a  tumbler — I  for- 
get how  the  captain  calls  'em — what  a  tree- 
mendous  heap  of  'em  he  must  eat  in  the  course 
of  a  year !" 

'  Thousands  of  'em,  I  suppose,"  said  one 
of  the  men. 

"  Thousands!" cried  Tom,  "I  should  rather 
say  billions  of  them." 

"  How  much  is  billions,  mate?"  inquired 
Bill. 

"I  don't  know,"  answered  Tom.  "Never 
could  find  out.  You  see  it's  heaps  upon 
heaps  of  thousands,  for  the  thousands  come 
first  and  the  billions  afterwards;  but  when 
I've  thouglit  uncommon  hard,  for  a  long 
spell  at  a  time,  I  always  get  confused,  be- 
cause millions  comes  in  between,  d'ye  see, 
and  that's  puzzlin'." 


FIGHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


79 


"I  think  I  could  give  you  some  notion 
about  these  things,"  said  Fred  Borders,  who 
had  been  quietly  listening  all  the  time,  but 
never  putting  in  a  word,  for,  as  I  have  said, 
Fred  was  a  modest,  bashful  nan,  and  seldom 
spoke  much.  But  we  had  all  come  to  no- 
tice that  when  Fred  spoke,  he  had  always 
something  to  say  worth  hearing ;  and  when 
he  did  speak  he  spoke  out  boldly  enough. 
"We  had  come  to  have  feelings  of  respect  for 
our  young  shipmate;  for  he  was  a  kind- 
hearted  lad,  and  we  saw  by  his  conversation 
that  he  had  been  better  educated  than  the 
most  of  us,  so  all  our  tongues  stopped  as  the 
eyes  -"f  the  party  turned  on  him. 

"  Come,  Fred,  let's  hear  it,  then,"  said  Tom. 

''It's  not  much  I  have  to  tell,"  began  Fred, 
''but  it  may  help  to  make  your  minds  clearer 
on  this  subject.  On  my  first  voyage  to  the 
whale  fishery  (you  know,  lads,  this  is  my 
second  voyage),  I  went  to  the  Greenland 
seas.  We  had  a  young  doctor  aboaF'd  with 
us — quite  a  youth;  indeed  lie  liad  not,  fin- 
ished his  studies  at  college,  but  he  was 
cleverer,  for  all  thac,  than  m.'iny  an  oldef 
:?ian  that  had  gone  through  his  wliole  course 


80 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


I  do  believe  that  the  reason  of  his  being  so 
clever  was,  that  he  was  for  ever  observing 
things,  and  studying  them,  and  muking 
notes,  and-  trying  to  find  out  reasons.  He 
was  never  satisfied  with  knowing  a  tiling; 
he  must  always  find  out  ivhy  it  was.  One 
day  I  heard  him  ask  the  captain  what  it  was 
that  made  the  sea  so  green  in  some  parts  of 
those  seas.  Our  captain  was  an  awfully 
stupid  man.  So  long  as  he  got  plenty  oil 
he  didn't  care  two  straws  for  the  reason  of 
anything.  The  young  doctor  had  been  both- 
ering him  that  morning  with  a  good  many 
questions,  so  when  he  asked  him  what  made 
the  sea  green,  he  answered  sharply,  'I  sup- 
pose it  makes  itself  green,  young  man,'  and 
then  he  turned  from  him  with  a  fling. 

"The  doctor  laughed,  and  came  forward 
among  the  men,  and  began  to  tell  us  stories 
and  ask  questions.  Ah  !  he  was  a  real  hearty 
fellow;  he  would  tc^ll  you  all  kinds  of  queer 
things,  and  would  })ump  you  dry  of  all  ymi 
knew  in  no  time.  Well,  but  the  thing  I  was 
going  to  it'll  you  was  this.  One  of  the  men 
said  to  liim  lu^  had  hoard  that  the  gi'eennnH« 
of  the  (rreenland  sea  was  caused  by  the  little 


FIOirriNO   THE  WHALES. 


81 


things  like  small  bits  of  jelly  on  wliicli  the 
whales  feed.  As  soon  as  he  heard  this  he 
got  a  bueket  and  hauled  some  sea-water 
aboard,  and  for  the  next  ten  days  he  was 
never  done  working  away  with  tlie  sea- 
water;  pouring  it  into  tumi>lers  and  glasses; 
looking  tlirough  it  by  daylight  luid  by  lamp- 
light; tasting  it,  and  boiling  it,  and  examin- 
ing it  with  a  microscope." 

'' What's  a  microscope?"  inquired  <>ne  of 
the  men. 

"Don't  vou  know?"  said  Tom  Lokins; 
"why  it's  a  glass  that  makes  little  things 
seem  big,  when  ye  look  through  it.  I've 
heerd  say  that  beasts  that  are  so  uncommon 
small  that  you  can't  see  them  at  all,  are  made 
to  come  into  sight,  and  look  (paite  big  by 
means  o'  this  glass.  But  I  can't  myself  say 
that  it's  true." 

"  But  I  can,"  said  Fred,  "for  I  have  seen 
it  with  my  own  eyes.  Well,  after  a  good 
while,  I  made  bold  to  ask  the  young  doctor 
what  he  had  found  out? 

"I've  found,"  said  he,  "that  the  green 
ness  of  these  seas  is  in  truth  caused  by  unac 
countable  numbers  of  medusae — " 


mi 


I 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 

*  Ha  I  tliat\s  the  word,"  shouted  Tom  Lo- 
kins,  "  inedoosy,  that's  what  the  eaptain  calls 
'em.     Heave  ahead,  Fred." 

''Well,  then,"  continued  Fred,  "the  young 
doctor  went  on  to  tell  me  that  he  had  been 
counting  the  matter  to  himself  very  care- 
fully, and  he  found  that  in  every  square  mile 
of  sea- water  there  were  living  about  eleven 
quadrillions  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
trillions  of  these  little  creatures !" 

"Oh!  hallo!  come,  now!"  we  all  cried, 
opening  our  eyes  very  wide  indeed. 

"But,  I  say,  how  much  is  that?"  inquired 
Tom  Lokins. 

"  Ah  !  that's  just  what  I  said  to  the  young 
doctor,  and  he  said  to  me,  '  I'll  tell  you  what, 
Fred  Borders,  no  man  alive  understands  how 
much  that  is,  and  what's  more,  no  man  ever 
will ;  but  I'll  give  you  some  notion  of  what 
it  means;  and  so  he  told  me  how  long  it 
would  take  forty  thousand  men  to  count  that 
number  of  eleven  quadrillions  nine  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  trillions,  each  man  of  the 
forty  thousand  beginning  'one,'  'two,'  'three,' 
and  going  on  till  the  sum  of  the  whole  added 
together  would  make  it  up.  Now,  how  long, 
d'ye  think,  it  would  take  them  ? — guess." 


FiaHTINO    THE    WHALES. 


83 


r'rcd  Borders  smiled  as  he  said  tliis,  and 
lookeil  round  tlie  cirele  of  men. 

"I  know,"  eried  one,  "it  woukl  tJvke  the 
whole  forty  thoiLsand  a  week  to  do  it." 

"Oh!  nonsense,  they  eould  do  it  easy  in 
two  days,"  said  another. 

"That  sliows  how  little  you  ^cnow  about 
big  numbers,"  observed  Tom  Lokins.  knoek- 
ing  the  ashes  out  of  his  pijDe.  "I'm  pretty 
sure  it  couldn't  be  done  in  much  less  than 
six  months;  workin'  hard  all  day,  and  makin' 
allowanf'c  for  only  one  hour  oft*  for  dinner." 

"You're  all  wrong,  shijunates,"  said  Fred 
Borders.  "That  young  doctor  told  me  that 
if  they'd  begun  work  at  the  day  of  creation 
they  would  only  have  just  finished  the  job 
last  year !" 

"O,  gammon!  y<  a're  jokin',"  cried  Bill 
Blunt. 

"No,  I'm  not,"  said  Fred,  "for  I  was  told 

afterwards,  by  an  old  clergyman,  that  the 

young  doctor  was  quite  riglit,  and  that  any 

one  who  was  good  at  'rithmetic  could  work 

the  thing  out  for  himself  in  less  than  half- 

an-hour." 

Just  as  Fred  said  this,  there  came  a  loud 
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84 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


cry  from  flie  mast-head  that  made  us  all 
spring  to  our  feet  like  lightning. 

^' There  she  blows !    There  she  breaches!" 

The  captain  was  on  deck  in  a  moment. 

'*  Where  away  ?"  he  cried. 
,    "On  the  lee  beam,  sir.    Sperm  whale,  about 
two  miles  off.     There  she  blows !" 

Every  man  was  at  his  station  in  a  mo- 
ment ;  for,  after  being  some  months  out,  we 
became  so  used  to  the  work,  that  we  acted 
together  like  a  piece  of  machinery.  But  our 
excitement  never  abated  in  the  least. 

"  Sing  out  when  the  ship  heads  for  her." 

♦♦Ay,  ay,  sir." 

^'  Keep  her  away !"  said  the  captain  to  the 
man  at  the  helm.  *'Bob  Ledbury,  hand  me 
the  spy-glass." 

"  Steady,"  from  the  mast-head. 

"  Steady  it  is,"  answered  the  man  at  the 
helm. 

'  While  we  were  all  looking  eagerly  out 
ahead  we  heard  a  thundering  snore  behind 
us,  followed  by  a  heavy  splash.  Turning 
quickly  round,  we  saw  the  flukes  of  an  enor- 
mous whale  sweeping  through  the  air,  not 
more  than  six  hundred  yards  astern  of  us. 


I 


FIGIITINQ    THE    WHALES. 


85 


"Down  your  helm,"  roared  the  captain; 
"  haul  up  the  mainsail,  and  square  the  yards. 
Call  all  hands." 

''All  hands  ahoy!"  roared  Bill  Blunt,  in 
a  voice  of  thunder,  and  in  another  moment 
every  man  in  the  ship  was  on  deck. 

"  Hoist  and  swing  the  boats,"  cried  the 
captain.     "Lower  away." 

Down  went  the  boats  into  the  water ;  the 
men  were  into  their  places  almost  before  you 
could  wink,  and  we  pulled  away  from  the 
ship  just  as  the  whale  rose  the  second  time, 
about  half  a  mile  away  to  leeward. 

From  the  appearance  of  this  whale,  we 
felt  certain  that  it  was  one  of  the  largest  we 
had  yet  seen,  so  we  pulled  after  it  with  right 
good  will.  I  occupied  my  usual  place  in  the 
captain's  boat,  next  the  bow -oar,  just,  beside 
Tom  Lok^ns,  who  was  ready  with  his  har- 
poons in  the  bow.  Young  Borders  pulled 
the  oar  directly  in  front  of  me.  The  captain 
himself  steered,  and,  as  our  crew  was  a 
picked  one,  we  soon  left  the  other  two  boats 
behind  us. 

Presently  a  small  whale  rose  close  beside 
us,  and,  sending  a  shower  of  spray  over  the 


86 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


boat,  went  down  in  a  pool  of  foam.  Before 
we  had  time  to  speak,  another  whale  rose  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  boat,  and  then  an- 
other on  our  starboard  bow.  We  had  got 
into  the  middle  of  a  shoal  of  whales,  which 
commenced  leaping  and  spouting  all  round 
us,  little  aware  of  the  dangerous  enemy  that 
was  so  near. 

In  a  few  minutes  more  up  comes  the  big 
one  again  that  we  had  first  seen.  He  seemed 
very  active  and  wild.  After  blowing  on  the 
surface  once  or  twice,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  off,  he  peaked  his  flukes,  and  pitched 
down  head  foremost. 

"  Now,  then,  lads,  he's  down  for  a  long 
dive,"  said  the  captain;  ''spring  your  oars 
like  men,  we'll  get  that  fish  for  certain,  if 
you'll  only  pull." 

The  captain  was  mistaken ;  the  whale  had 
only  gone  down  deep  in  order  to  come  up 
and  breach,  or  spring  out  of  the  water,  for 
the  next  minute  he  came  up  not  a  hundred 
yards  from  us,  and  leaped  his  whole  length 
into  the  air. 

A  shout  of  surprise  broke  from  the  men 
and  no  wonder,  for  this  was  the  largest  fish 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


87 


I  ever  saw  or  heard  of,  and  he  oame  up  so 
clear  of  tlie  water  that  we  could  see  him  from 
head  to  tail  as  he  turned  over,  in  the  air, 
exposing  his  white  belly  to  view,  and  came 
down  on  his  great  side  with  a  crash  like 
thunder,  that  might  have  been  heard  six 
miles  off.  A  splendid  mass  of  pure  white 
spray  burst  from  the  spot  where  he  fell,  and 
in  another  moment  he  was  gone. 

''  I  do  Vjelieve  it's  New  Zealand  Tom,''''  cried 
Bill  Blunt,  referring  to  an  old  bull- whale  that 
had  become  famous  among  the  men  who 
frequented  those  seas  for  its  immense  size 
and  fierceness,  and  for  the  great  trouble  it 
had  given  them,  smashing  some  of  their 
boats,  and  carrying  away  many  of  their  bar 
poons. 

'*  I  don't  know  whether  it's  New  Zealand 
Tom  or  not,"  sa!i  the  captain,  ''but  it  is 
pretty  clear  that  he's  an  old  sperm  bull. 
Give  way,  lads,  we  must  get  that  whale, 
whatever  it  should  cost  us." 

We  did  not  need  a  second  bidding ;  the 

size  of  the  fish  was  so  great  that  we  felt 

more  excited  than  we  had  yet  been  during 

the  voyage,   so  we  bent   our  oars  till  ws* 

8* 


■■i 


i! 


88 


FIGHTING   THE    WHALES. 


almost  pulled  the  boat  out  of  the  water. 
The  other  boats  had  got  separated,  chasing 
the  little  whales,  so  we  had  this  one  all  to 
ourselves. 

"  There  she  blows !"  said  Tom  Lokins,  in 
a  low  voice,  as  the  fish  came  up  a  short  dis- 
tance astern  of  us. 

We  had  overshot  our  mark,  so,  turning 
about,  we  made  for  the  whale,  which  kept 
for  a  considerable  time  near  the  top  of  the 
water,  spouting  now  and  then,  and  going 
slowly  to  windward.  We  at  last  got  within 
a  few  feet  of  the  monster,  and  the  captain 
suddenly  gave  the  word,  ''  Stand  up." 

This  was  to  our  harpooner,  Tom  Lokins, 
w^ho  jumped  up  on  the  instant,  and  buried 
two  harpoons  deep  in  the  blubber. 

"  Stern  all !"  was  the  next  word,  and  we 
backed  off  with  all  our  might.  It  was  just 
in  time,  for,  in  his  agony,  the  whale  tossed 
his  tail  right  over  our  heads,  the  flukes  were 
so  big  that  they  could  have  completely  cov- 
ered the  boat,  and  he  brought  them  down 
fliit  on  the  sea  with  a  clap  that  made  our  ears 
tingle,  while  a  shower  of  spray  drenched  us 
to  the  skin.     For  one  moment  I  thought  it 


FiaHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


89 


was  all  over  with  us,  but  we  were  soon  out 
of  immediate  danger,  and  lay  on  our  oars 
watching  the  writhings  of  the  wounded  mon- 
ster as  he  lashed  the  ocean  into  foam.  The 
water  all  round  us  soon  became  white,  like 
milk,  and  the  foam  near  the  whale  was  red 
with  blood. 

Suddenly  this  ceased,  and,  before  we  could 
pull  up  to  lance  him,  he  went  down,  taking 
the  line  out  at  such  a  rate  that  the  boat  spun 
round,  and  sparks  of  fire  flew  from  the  log- 
gerhead from  the  chafing  of  the  rope. 

'*  Hold  on !"  cried  the  captain,  and  next 
moment  we  were  tearing  over  the  sea  at  a 
fearful  rate,  with  a  bank  of  white  foam  rolling 
before  us,  high  above  our  bows,  and  away 
on  each  side  of  us  like  the  track  of  a  steamer, 
so  that  we  expected  it  every  moment  to  rush 
in-board  and  swamp  us.  I  had  never  seen 
anything  like  this  before.  From  the  first  I 
had  a  kind  of  feeling  that  some  evil  would 
befall  us. 

While  we  were  tearinor  over  the  water  in 
this  way,  we  saw  the  other  whales  coming 
up  every  now  and  then  and  blowing  quite 
near  to  us,  ar.d  presently  we  passed  close 


90 


riGHTINO    THE   WHALES 


enough  to  the  first  mate's  boat  to  see  that  he 
was  fast  to  a  fish,  and  unable,  therefore,  to 
render  us  help  if  we  should  need  it. 

In  a  short  time  the  line  began  to  slaek,  so 
we  hauled  it  in  hand  over  hand,  and  Tom 
Lokins  coiled  it  away  in  the  tub  in  the  stern 
of  the  boat,  while  the  captain  took  his  place 
in  the  bow  to  be  ready  with  the  lance.  The 
whale  soon  came  up,  and  we  pulled  with  all 
our  might  towards  him.  Instead  of  making 
off  again,  however,  he  turned  round  and 
made  straight  at  the  boat.  I  now  thought 
that  destruction  was  certain,  for  when  I  saw 
his  great  blunt  forehead  coming  down  on  u^ 
like  a  steamboat,  I  felt  that  we  could  not 
escape.  I  was  mistaken.  The  captain  re- 
ceived him  on  the  point  of  his  lance,  and  the 
whale  has  such  a  dislike  to  pain,  that  even 
a  small  prick  will  sometimes  turn  him. 

For  some  time  we  kept  dodging  round  this 
fellow ;  but  he  was  so  old  and  wise,  that  he 
always  turned  his  head  to  us,  and  prevented 
us  from  getting  a  chance  to  lance  him.  At 
last  he  turned  a  little  to  one  side,  and  the 
captain  plunged  the  lance  deep  into  his  vitals. 

'•  Ha  I  that's  touched  his  life,"  cried  Tom, 


FIGHTINQ   THE   WHALES. 


91 


as  a  stream  of  blood  flew  up  from  his  blow- 
holes, a  sure  sign  that  he  was  mortally 
wounded.  But  he  was  not  yet  conquered. 
After  receiving  the  cruel  stab  with  the  lance, 
he  pitched  right  down,  head  foremost,  and 
once  more  the  line  began  to  fly  out  over  the 
bow.  We  tried  to  hold  on,  but  he  was 
going  so  straight  down  that  the  boat  was 
almost  swamped,  and  we  had  to  slack  off  to 
prevent  our  being  pulled  under  water. 

Before  many  3^ards  of  the  line  had  run  out, 
one  of  the  coils  in  the  tub  became  entangled. 

'^Look  out,  lads,"  cried  Tom,  and  at  once 
throwing  the  turn  off  the  logger-head,  he 
made  an  attempt  to  clear  it.  The  captain,  in 
trying  to  do  the  same  thing,  slipped  and  fell. 
Seeing  this,  I  sprang  up,  and  grasping  the 
coil  as  it  flew  past,  tried  to  clear  it.  Before 
I  could  think,  a  turn  whipped  round  my  left 
wrist.  I  felt  a  wrench  as  if  my  arm  had 
been  torn  out  of  the  socket,  and  in  a  moment 
I  was  overboard,  going  down  with  almost 
lightning  speed  into  the  depths  of  the  sea. 
Strange  to  say,  I  did  not  lose  my  presence 
of  mind.  I  knew  exactly  what  had  happened. 
I  felt  myself  rusliingdown,  down,  down,  with 


1 


02 


FKUITING    THE    WHALES. 


terrific  speed  ;  a  stream  of  fire  seemed  to  be 
wliizzing  past  my  eyes  ;  tliere  was  a  dread- 
ful pressure  on  my  brain,  and  a  roaring  as 
if  of  thunder  in  my  ears.  Yet,  even  in  tliat 
dread  moment,  thouglits  of  eternity,  of  my 
sins,  and  of  meeting  with  my  God,  flashed 
into  my  mind,  for  tliought  is  quicker  than 
the  lightning  flash. 

Of  a  sudden  the  roaring  ceased,  and  I  felt 
myself  buffeting  the  water  fiercely  in  my 
efforts  to  reach  the  surface.  I  know  not  how 
I  got  free,  but  I  suppose  the  turn  of  tlie  line 
must  have  slackened  off'  somehow.  All  this 
happened  within  the  space  of  a  few  brief 
moments ;  but,  oh !  they  seemed  fearfully 
long  to  me.  I  do  not  think  I  could  have 
held  my  breath  a  second  longer. 

When  I  came  to  the  surface,  and  tried  to 
look  about  me,  I  saw  the  boat  not  more  than 
fifty  yards  off',  and,  being  a  good  swimmer, 
I  struck  out  for  it,  although  I  felt  terribly 
exhausted.  In  a  few  minutes  my  comrades 
saw  me,  and,  with  a  cheer,  put  out  the  oars 
and  began  to  row  towards  me.  I  saw  that 
the  line  was  slack,  and  that  they  were  haul- 
ing it  in — a  sign  that  the  whale  had  ceased 


•  V<^| 


FiailTING    THE   WHALES. 


U3 


running  and  would  soon  come  to  the  surliu'c 
again.  Before  they  had  pulled  halfa-dozen 
strokes  I  saw  tlie  water  open  close  beside  the 
boat,  and  the  monstrous  head  of  the  whale 
shot  up  like  a  great  rock  rising  out  of  the 
deep. 

He  was  not  more  than  three  feet  from 
the  boat,  and  he  came  up  with  such  force, 
that  more  than  half  his  gigantic  length  came 
out  of  the  water  right  over  the  boat.  I  heard 
the  captain's  loud  cry — "  Stern  allP^  But  it 
was  too  late,  the  whole  weight  of  the  mon- 
ster's body  fell  upon  the  boat ;  there  was  a 
crash  and  a  terrible  cry,  as  the  whale  and 
boat  went  down  togjether. 

For  a  few  moments  he  continued  to  lash 
the  sea  in  his  fury,  and  the  fragments  of  the 
boat  floated  all  round  him.  I  thought  that 
every  man,  of  course,  had  been  killed ;  but 
one  after  another  their  heads  appeared  in  the 
midst  of  blood  and  foam,  and  they  struck  out 
for  oars  and  pieces  of  the  wreck. 

Providentially,  the  whale,  in  his  tossings, 
had  shot  a  little  away  from  the  spot,  else 
every  man  must  certainly  have  been  killed. 

A  feeling  of  horror  filled  my  heart    as  I 


94  FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 

beheld  all  this,  and  thought  upon  my  posi- 
tion,    importunately,  I  had  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing  a  broken  piank;  for  my  strength  was 
now  so  much  exhausted,  that  I  could  not 
have  kept  my  head  above  water  any  longer 
.without  its  assistance.     Just  then  I  heard  a 
cheer,  and  the  next  time  I  rose  on  the  swell, 
I  looked  quickly  round  and  saw  the  mate's 
boat  making  for  the  scene  of  action  as  fast  as 
a  stout  and  willing  crew  could  pull.     In  a 
few  minutes  more  I  was  clutched  by  the  arm 
and  hauled  into  it.     My  comrades  were  next 
rescued,  and  we  thanked  God  when  we  found 
that  none  were  killed,  although  one  of  them 
had  got  a  leg  broken,  and  another  an  arm 
twisted  out   of  joini;.     They    all,    however, 
seemed  to  think  that  my  escape  was  much 
more  wonderful  than  theirs ;  but  I  cannot 
say  that  I  agreed  with  them  in  this. 

We  p.ow  turned  our  attention  to  the  whale, 
which  had  dived  again.  As  it  was  now 
loose,  we  did  not  know,  of  course,  where  it 
would  come  up ;  so  we  lay  still  a  while. 
Very  soon  up  he  came,  not  far  from  us,  and 
as  fierce  as  ever. 

*'  Now,  lads,  we  must  get  that  whale/'  cried 
the  mate;  '^give  way  with  a  will." 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


95 


The  order  was  obeyed.  The  boat  almost 
leaped  over  the  swell,  and,  before  long,  an- 
other harpoon  was  in  the  whale's  back. 

''  Fast  again,  hurrah  !"  shouted  the  mate ; 
**  now  for  the  lance." 

He  gave  the  monster  two  deep  stabs  while  . 
he  spoke,  and  it  vomited  up  great  clots  of    - 
blood,  besides  spouting  the  red  stream  of  life 
as  it  rolled  on  the  sea  in  its  agony,  obliging 
us  to  keep  well  out  of  its  way. 

I  could  not  look  upon  the  dying  struggles 
of  this  enormous  fish  without  feelinors  of 
regret  and  self-reproach  for  helping  to  destroy 
it.  I  felt  almost  as  if  I  were  a  murderer, 
and  that  the  Creator  would  call  me  to  account 
for  taking  part  in  the  destruction  of  one  of 
his  grandest  living  creatures.  But  the 
thought  passed  quickly  from  my  mind  as  the 
whale  became  more  violent  and  went  into 
its  flurry.  It  began  to  lash  the  sea  with  such 
astonishing  violence,  that  all  the  previous 
struggles  seemed  as  nothing.  The  water  all 
round  became  white  like  milk,  with  great 
streaks  of  red  blood  running  through  it,  and 
the  sound  of  the  quick  blows  of  its  tail  and  fins 
resembled  that  of  dull  hollow  thunder.  We 
9 


96 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


gazed  at  this  scene  in  deep  silence  and  with 
beating  hearts. 

All  at  once  the  struggles  ceased.  The 
grijat  carcass  rolled  over  belly  up,  and  lay 
extended  on  the  sea  in  death.  To  me  it 
seemed  as  if  a  dead  calm  had  suddenly  fallen 
around  us,  after  a  long  and  furious  storm,  so 
great  was  the  change  when  that  whale  at 
length  parted  with  its  huge  life.  The  silence 
was  suddenly  broken  by  three  hearty  cheers, 
and  then,  fastening  a  rope  to  our  prize,  we 
commenced  towing  it  to  the  ship,  which 
operation  occupied  us  the  greater  part  of  the 
night,  for  we  had  no  fewer  than  eight  miles 
to  pull.  ^ 


% 


w: 


1 


CH  \PTER  VIII. 

DEATH  ON  THE  SEA. 

^HE  whale  which  we  had  taken,  as  I  have 


related  in  the  last  chapter,  was  our 
largest  fish  of  that  season.  It  produced 
ninety  barrels  of  oil,  and  was  worth  about 
£500,  so  that  we  did  not  grieve  much  over 
the  loss  of  our  boat. 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


97 


'  But  our  next  loss  was  of  a  kind  that  could 
not  be  made  up  for  by  oil  or  money,  for 
it  was  the  loss  of  a  human  life.  In  the  whale- 
fishery  men  must,  like  soldiers,  expect  to  risk 
their  lives  frequently,  and  they  have  too 
often,  alas  !  to  mourn  over  the  loss  of  a  ship- 
mate or  friend.  Up  to  this  time  our  voyage 
had  gone  prosperously.  We  had  caught  so 
man}'-  fish  that  nearly  half  our  cargo  was 
already  completed,  and  if  we  should  be  as 
lucky  the  remainder  of  the  voyage,  we  should 
be  able  to  return  home  to  Old  England  much 
sooner  than  we  had  expected. 

Of  course  durinsj  all  this  time  we  had  met 
with  some  disappointments,  for  I  am  not 
describing  everything  that  happened  on  that 
Yoyage,  It  would  require  a  much  thicker 
volume  than  this  to  tell  the  half  of  our  adven- 
tures. We  lost  five  or  six  fish  by  their  sink- 
ing before  we  could  get  them  made  fast  to 
the  ship,  and  one  or  two  bolted  so  fast  that 
they  broke  loose  and  carried  away  a  number 
of  harpoons  and  many  a  fathom  of  line.  But 
such  misfortunes  were  what  we  had  to  look 
for.  Every  whaler  meets  with  similar 
changes  of  luck,  and  we  did  not  expect  to 


'11! 


98 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


m    ' 


fare  differently  from  our  neiglibors.  These 
things  did  not  cause  us  much  regret  beyond 
the  time  of  their  occurrence.  But  it  was  far 
otherwise  with  the  loss  that  now  befell  us. 

It  happened  on  a  Sunday  forenoon.  I  was 
standing  close  to  the  starboard  gangway 
early  that  morning,  looking  over  the  side 
into  the  calm  water,  for  there  was  not  a 
breath  of  wind,  and  talking  to  the  first  mate, 
who  was  a  gruff,  surly  man,  but  a  good  officer, 
and  kind  enough  in  his  way  when  every- 
thing went  smooth  with  him.  But  things 
don't  go  very  smooth  generally  in  whaling 
life,  so  the  mate  was  oftener  gruff  than  sweet. 

*'  Bob  Ledbury,"  said  he,  "  have  you  got 
your  cutting-in  gear  in  order  ?  I've  got  a 
notion  that  we'll  '  raise  the  oil'  this  day." 

"  All  right,  sir,"  said  I ;  ^'you  might  shave 
yourself  with  the  blubber-spades.  That  was 
a  good  fish  we  got  last,  sir,  wasn't  it  ?" 

*'  Pretty  good,  though  I've  seen  bigger." 

"  He  gave  us  a  deal  of  trouble,  too,"  said  I. 

''  Not  so  much  as  I've  seen  others  give," 
eaid  he.  "  When  I  was  fishing  in  the  Green- 
land seas  we  made  fast  to  a  whale  that  cost 
lis  I  don't  know  how  many  hundred  dollars.'* 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


99 


(You  must  know  the  first  mate  was  a  Yan* 
kee,  and  he  reckoned  everything  in  dollars.) 

"How  was  that,  sir?"  asked  I. 

''  Well,  it  was  something  in  this  fashion. 
We  were  floating  about  in  the  North  Atlantic 
one  calm,  hot  day,  just  something  like  this, 
only  it  was  the  afternoon,  not  the  morning. 
We  were  doing  nothing,  and  whistling  for 
a  breeze,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  up  cl  ues 
five  or  six  whales  all  round  the  ship,  as  if 
they  had  spied  her  from  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  and  had  come  up  to  have  a  squint  at 
her.  Of  course  the  boats  were  manned  at 
once,  and  in  less  than  no  time  we  were  tear- 
ing after  them  like  all  alive.  But  them 
whales  were  pretty  wildish,  I  guess.  They 
feept  us  pullin'  the  best  part  of  five  hours 
before  we  got  a  chance  at  them.  My  boat 
was  out  of  sight  of  the  ship  before  we  made 
fast  to  a  regular  snorer,  a  hundred-barreller 
at  the  least.  The  moment  he  felt  the  iron, 
away  he  went,  like  the  shot  out  of  a  gun ; 
but  he  didn't  keep  it  up  long,  for  soon  after 
another  of  our  boats  came  up  and  made  fast. 

Well,  for  some  two  or  three  hours  we  held 
fast,  but  could  not  haul  on  to  him  to  use  the 

9* 


Mml 


mWm 


II 


100 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


lance,  for  tlie  moment  we  came  close  up 
alongside  of  his  tail  he  peaked  flukes  and 
dived;  then  up  again,  and  away  as. fast  as 
ever.  It  was  about  noon  before  we  touched 
him  again ;  bat  by  that  time  two  more  har- 
poons were  made  fast,  and  two  other  boats 
cast  tow-lines  aboard  of  us,  and  were  hauled 
along.  That  was  four  boats,  and  more  than 
sixteen  hundred  fathoms  of  line,  besides  four 
harpoons  that  was  fast  to  that  whale,  and 
yet,  for  all  that,  he  went  ahead  as  fast  as  we 
could  have  rowed,  takin'  us  along  with  him 
quite  easy. 

^'A  breeze  having  sprung  up,  our  ship  over- 
hauled us  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  and 
towards  evening  we  sent  a  line  on  board,  to 
see  if  that  would  stop  the  big  fish,  and  the 
topsails  were  lowered,  so  as  to  throw  some 
of  the  ship's  weight  on  liim^  but  the  irons 
drew  out  with  the  strain.  However,  we  de- 
termined to  try  it  again.  Another  line  was 
sent  aboard  about  eight  o'clock,  and  the  top- 
sails were  lowered,  but  the  line  snapped  im- 
mediately. Well,  we  held  on  to  that  whale 
the  whole  of  that  night,  and  at  four  o'clock 
next  morning,  just  thirty-six  hours  after  he 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


101 


was  first  struck,  two  fn.st  lines  were  taken 
aboard  the  ship.  The  breeze  was  fresh,  and 
against  us,  so  the  top-gallant  sails  were  taken 
in,  the  courses  hauled  up,  and  the  topsails 
clewed  down,  yet,  I  assure  you,  that  whale 
towed  the  ship  dead  against  the  wind  for  an 
hour  and  a  half  at  the  rate  of  two  miles  an 
hour,  and  all  the  while  beating  the  water 
with  his  fins  and  tail,  so  that  the  sea  was  in 
a  continual  foam.  We  did  not  kill  that  fish 
till  after  forty  hours  of  the  hardest  work  I 
ever  went  through." 

Some  of  my  shipmates  seemed  to  doubt 
the  truth  of  this  story;  but,  for  my  part,  I 
believed  it,  because  the  mate  was  a  grave, 
truthful  man,  though  he  was  gruff,  and  never 
told  lies,  as  far  as  I  knew.  Moreover,  a  case 
of  the  same  kind  happened  some  years  after- 
wards, to  a  messiiiate  of  mine,  while  he  was 
serving  aboard  the  "Eoyal  Bounty,"  on  the 
28th  of  May  1817. 

I  know  that  some  of  the  stories  which  I 
now  tell  must  seem  very  wild  and  unlikely 
to  landsmen  ;  but  those  who  have  been  to  the 
whale-fishery  will  admit  that  I  tell  nothing 
but  the  truth,  and  if  there  are  any  of  my 


;  I 


i  ij! 


WuM'l 


i!  I 


102 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


readers  who  are  still  doubtful,  I  would  say, 
go  and  read  the  works  of  Captain  Scoresby. 
It  is  well  known  that  this  whaling  captain 
was  a  truly  religious  man,  who  gave  up  the 
fishing,  though  it  turned  him  in  plenty  of 
money,  and  became  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
with  a  small  income,  so  it  is  not  likely  that 
he  would  have  told  what  was  untrue.  Well, 
in  his  works  we  find  stories  that  are  quite  as 
remarkable  as  the  one  I  have  just  told,  some 
of  them  more  so. 

For  instance,  he  tells  us  of  one  whale,  in 
the  Greenland  seas,  which  was  not  killed  till 
it  had  drawn  out  ten  thousand  four  hundred 
and  forty  yards,  or  about  six  miles  of  line, 
fastened  to  fifteen  harpoons,  besides  taking 
one  of  the  boats  entirely  under  water,  which 
boat  was  never  seen  again. 

The  mate  told  us  two  or  three  more  stories, 
and  a  lot  of  us  were  gathered  round  him 
listening  eagerly,  for  there  is  nothing  Jack 
likes  so  much  as  a  good  yarn,  when,  all  of  a 
sudden,  the  man  at  the  mast-head  sang  out 
that  a  large  sperm  whale  was  spouting  away 
two  points  off'  the  leebow.  Of  course  we 
were  at  our  posts  in  a  moment,  for  whalers, 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


103 


generally,  don't  let  the  Lord's  day  interfere 
with  their  work. 

Now  it  happened  that  this  was  the  first 
time  we  had  chanced  to  see  whales  on  a  Sun- 
day. Up  to  that  time  it  had  never  entered 
into  my  head  to  think  of  objecting  to  do  work 
on  that  day.  It  was  the  custom  to  obey 
orders,  whatever  these  should  be,  on  every 
day  of  the  week  alike,  so  I  went  like  the  rest 
to  my  usual  st'ation,  without  a  thought  upon 
the  subject.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one, 
Fred  Borders,  instead  of  going  to  his  post, 
went  up  to  the  captain,  with  a  very  red  face, 
and,  touching  his  c'ap,  said — 

**  Please,  sir,  it  is  the  Sabbath  day.  I — 
I — would  rather  not  go  after  the  whales  to- 
day, sir." 

Those  of  us  who  were  within  hearing 
opened  our  eyes  in  amazement,  and  some 
of  the  men  laughed  right  out;  but  the  cap- 
tain looked  sternly  round,  and  ordered  silence. 

Now,  although  the  captain  was  a  kind  man, 
and  all  through  the  voyage  had  let  us  do  as 
little  work  as  possible  on  F'-nday,  still  he  was 
not  a  religious  man.  In  fact,  he  did  not  pre- 
tend to  believe  in  the  Bible  at  all ;  so  when 


104 


riGUTING   THE   WHALES. 


one  of  his  crew  went  up  to  him  in  this  way, 
and  boldly  objected  to  work,  he  flew  into  a 
violent  passion. 

"  And,  pray,  may  I  ask  why  you  would 
rather  not  go  after  whales  to-day  f"  said  he, 
trying  to  keep  down  his  anger. 

"  Because,  sir,  God's  word  forbids  work 
ing   at   our  ordinary  calling  on  His  day," 
answered  Fred,  quietly. 

I  knew  poor  Fred's  spirit  well,  and  I  could 
see  from  the  expression  of  his  face,  and  the 
heaving  of  his  breast,  how  deeply  he  felt  the 
sneers  of  his  shipmates,  and  the  contempt  of 
his  captain. 

"  Did  you  not  know  when  you  shipped 
with  me,  that  you  would  have  to  work  on 
Sunday  as  well  as  on  any  other  day  ?"  de- 
manded the  captain. 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  did ;  but  I  did  not  think  so 
seriously  as  I  now  do.  My  life  has  been 
saved,  as  you  know,  but  a  short  time  ago, 
and  God  has  opened  my  eyes  to  see  that,  as 
He  is  my  Maker,  and  is  constantly  doing  me 
good,  and  watching  over  me,  the  least  that  I 
can  do  for  Him  is  to  consider  His  wishes, 
and  obey  His  orders."  > 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


lOo 


The  captain  was  a  little  softened  by  this ; 
but  another  laugh  from  one  or  two  of  the 
worst  of  our  men  RreA  him  up  again. 

"  Go,  sir,"  said  he,  sternly,  "  go  to  your 
duty.  It  will  be  time  enough  for  you  to 
preach  when  you  are  appointed  chaplain  to 
this  ship.     Disobey  my  orders,  if  you  dare !" 

Young  Borders  hung  his  head,  and  turn- 
ing slowly  away,  went  to  his  usual  station, 
where  the  crew  of  the  boat  he  belonged  to 
were  already  standing. 

"There  she  blows!  there  she  breaches  I" 
sung  the  look-out. 

'  Lower  away  I"  roared  the  captain. 

The  boats  were  in  the  water,  and  the  men 
on  their  seats  in  a  moment ;  but  Fred  hesitat- 
ed. He  knew  the  stern  laws  that  exist  for 
the  punishment  of  mutineers;  but  he  thought 
of  the  far  more  terrible  laws  that  exist  for 
the  punishment  of  sinners.  God  helped  him, 
and  "he  turned  boldly  round,  and  said  respect- 
fully— 

'*  Sir,  I  cannot  go — " 

Before  he  could  say  another  word,  the 
captain,  who  was  a  very  strong  man,  rushed 
at  him,  seized  him  by  the  neck,  and  hurled 


..II 

i  ! 


I    1 


108 


FKillTINd    THE   WHALES. 


him  over  tlie  side  into  tlie  l)oat.  In  anotbcr 
niomciit  wo  wore  away,  and  Frod,  seeing  tliat 
escape  was  now  impossible,  took  his  oar  like 
the  I'est. 

There  was  an  attem]>t  made  by  some  of  the 
men  to  laiigli  at  the  i)oor  fellow,  but  it  was 
quite  plain  that  the  most  of  them  regarded 
their  young  shii)niate  with  greater  respect 
than  ever.  As  for  me,  I  felt  my  heart  drawn 
out  to  him  more  than  ever,  and  only  wished 
that  I  had  the  })luck  to  side  with  him  openly. 
But  although  brave  enough  for  fighting  men 
and  whales  at  that  time,  I  had  not  courage 
to  fight  against  my  own  cowardly  spirit. 
However^  the  excitement  of  the  chase  soon 
turned  all  our  thoughts  away  from  what  had 
just  passed. 

The  whale  we  were  after  was  a  very  large 
one,  we  could  see  that,  for  after  two  hours' 
hard  pulling  we  got  near  enough  to  throw 
a  harpoon,  and  after  it  was  fixed  he  jumped 
clean  out  of  the  water.  Then  there  was  the 
usual  battle.  It  was  fierce  and  long ;  so  long 
that  I  began  to  fear  we  would  have  to  return 
empty-handed  to  the  ship.  We  put  ten  har- 
poons into  him,  one  after  another,  and  had  a 
stiff  run  between  the  fixing  of  each. 


FIGHTING   THE   WllAfiES. 


107 


It  is  astonisliing  the  difteronco  betwooii  the 
fish.  One  will  give  you  no  trouhle  at  all.  I 
have  often  seen  a  good  big  I'ellow  killed  in 
hall-an-hour.  Another  will  take  you  half  a 
day,  and  perhaps  you  may  lose  him  after  all. 
The  whale  we  were  now  after  at  last  took  to 
showing  light,  lie  made  two  or  three  runs 
at  the  boat,  but  the  mate,  wlio  was  in  com- 
mand, pricked  him  oil*  with  the  lance  cleverly. 
At  last  we  gave  him  a  severe  wound,  and 
immediately  he  dived. 

"Thatw^as  into  his  life,"  remarked  Tom 
Lokins,  as  we  sat  waiting  for  him  to  come 
up  again.  The  captain's  boat  was  close  to 
ours,  about  ten  yards  off.  We  had  not  to 
wait  long.  The  sudden  stoppage  and  slacking 
off  of  all  the  lines  showed  that  the  whale  was 
coming  up.  All  at  once  I  saw  a  dark  object 
rising  directly  under  the  captain's  boat.  Be- 
fore I  '^-ould  make  out  what  it  was,  almost 
before  I  could  think,  the  boat  flew  up  into 
the  air,  as  if  a  powder  magazine  had  ex- 
ploded beneath  it.  The  whale  had  come  up, 
and  hit  it  with  his  head  right  on  the  keel, 
so  that  it  was  knocked  into  pieces,  and  the 
men,  oars,  harpoons,  lances,  and  tackle  shot 
up  in  confusion  into  the  air. 
10 


i:l 


•^ 


108 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


Immediately  afior  that  the  whale  went  into 
his  flurry,  but  we  paid  no  attention  to  him^ 
in  onr  anxiety  to  pick  up  our  companions 
They  all  came  to  the  surface  quickly  enough, 
but  while  some  made  for  the  boats  vigor- 
ously, others  swam  slowly  and  with  pain, 
showing  that  they  were  hurt,  while  one  or 
two  floated,  as  if  dead,  upon  the  water. 

Most  of  the  men  had  escaped  with  only  a 
■few  cuts  and  bruises,  but  one  poor  fellow 
was  hauled  out  of  the  water  with  a  leg 
broken,  and  another  was  so  badly  knocked 
about  the  head  that  it  was  a  Ion 2^  time  be- 
fore  he  was  a<?ain  fit  for  dutv.  The  worst 
case,  however,  was  that  of  poor  Fred  Bor- 
ders. He  had  a  leg  broken,  and  a  severe 
wound  in  the  side  from  a  harpoon  which  had 
been  forced  into  the  flesh  over  the  barbs,  so 
that  we  could  hardly  get  it  drawn  out.  We 
laid  him  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  where  he 
lay  for  some  time  insensible ;  but  in  a  short 
time  he  revived,  and  spoke  to  us  in  a  faint 
voice.     His  first  words  were : — 

"  I'm  dying,  messmates." 

*  Don't  say  that,  Fred,"  said  I,  while  my 
heart  sank  within  me.     ''  Cheer  up,  my  boy, 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


109 


you'll  live  to  be  the  death  of  many  a  whale 
yet.  See,  put  your  liptj  to  this  can — it  will 
do  you  good." 

He  shook  his  head  gently,  being  too  weak 
to  reply. 

We  had  killed  a  big  fish  that  day,  and  we 
knew  that  when  he  was  ''  tried  in"  we  should 
have  completed  our  cargo ;  but  there  was  no 
cheer  given  when  the  monster  turned  over 
on  his  side,,  and  the  pull  to  the  ship  that 
evening  seemed  to  us  the  longest  and  hea- 
viest we  ever  had,  for  our  hearts  were  very 
sad. 

Next  day  Fred  was  worse,  and  wo  all  saw 
that  his  words  would  come  true, — he  was 
dying.  I  never  saw  a  man  so  cast  down  in 
all  my  life  as  our  captain  was  when  he  came 
to  see  that  all  hope  was  over*.  He  was  com- 
pletely broken  down.  He  walked  about  the 
deck,  muttering  to  himself,  as  if  he  were 
deranged,  and  I  overheard  him  once  or  twice 
in  the  cabin  groaning,  and  saying  to  him- 
self that  he  "had  been  the  death  of  that  lad, 
body  and  soul." 

I  was  permitted  to  nurse  my  poor  mess 
mate,  and  I  spent  much  of  my  time  in  read 


i 


ilO 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


ing  the  Bible  to  him,  at  his  own  request. 
Many  and  many  a  time  did  the  captain  come 
down  to  see  him,  and  to  implore  his  forgive- 
ness; but  although  Fred  said  that  he  did 
forgive  him,  he  would  not  utter  aLother 
word.  The  captain  thought  this  must  be 
owing  to  weakness,  but  I  felt  sure  there 
must  be  some  other  reason. 

One  day  (for  he  lived  about  a  week  after 
the  accident) — one  day  I  said  to  him,  "Fred, 
why  don't  you  speak  to  the  captain  when  he 
comes  to  see  you?  I'm  sure  it  would  do 
him  good,  and  he  needs  comfort,  poor  man, 
for  he's  desperately  down  about  you,  and 
blames  himself  more  than  you  think." 

*'  I  know  it,  Bob,"  said  he,  in  a  faint,  low 
voice,  *'  but  I  can't  speak  to  him  somehow.  I 
want  to  speak  to  him  about  his  soul,  but  I 
don't  know  how  to  begin,  and  before  I  can 
make  up  my  mind  he's  away." 

Just  as  he  said  this  the  captain  came  be 
low,  and,  going  to  the  cot  where  Fred  lay, 
took  his  hand  in  his,  and  said,  tenderly — 

'*  How  do  you  feel  now,  my  dear  boy.  Are 
you  suffering  much  pain?'* 

"Not  much,"  replied  Fred;  then  he  stop- 


FIGHTING    THE   WHALES. 


Ill 


ped,  and  looked  anxiously  in  the  captain's 
face.  '  ' 

•     "  What  would  you  say,  my  boy  ?     You 
want  to  speak  to  me,  I  think." 

Fred  smiled  languidly,  and  said  with  diffi- 
culty, "  I'll  soon  be  away,  captain — " 

He  could  not  go  on,  but  he  pointed  up- 
wards with  his  finger. 

"Ah!  you  would  tell  me  that  the  Lord 
gives  you  comfort.  Is  that  what  you  would 
say?"  ■  ' 

"  He  does,"  cried  E^red,  with  energy,  rais- 
ing himself  a  little,  and  seizing  the  captain 
by  the  wrist. 

At  that  moment  a  sudden  paleness  over- 
spread his  face,  and  he  sank  on  the  pillow 
with  a  deep  sigh.  I  thought  the  end  had 
come,  but  he  turned  to  me,  and  said  in  a  low 
voice :  *'  Find  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the 
Acts,  thirty-first  verse;  also  find  Exodus, 
twentieth  chapter,  eighth  verse.  Bead  both 
— read  both.''^ 

1  turned  to  the  chapters  he  mentioned,  and 

read  as  follows,  while  Fred  gazed  earnestly 

into  the   captain's   face,    holding  his  wrist 

firmly  with  one  hand,  and  with  a  finger  of 

10* 


112 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


the  other  pointing  to  the  Bible.  The  two 
verses  ran  thus : — 

"  'And  they  said,  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and 
thy  house/ 

"  *  Remember  the  Sabbath-day,  to  keep  it 
holy.' 

''  Will  you  '  believe,'  will  you  *  remember,' 
captain?"  said  the  dying  man,  more  earnestly. 

"I  will,  I  will,"  replied  the  other,  while 
big  tears  rolled  over  his  rugged  cheeks,  and 
fell  upon  the  hand  thsk  grasped  his  wrist  so 
firmly. 

Fred  smiled  faintly,  but  he  did  not  speak 
again.  He  seemed  to  have  received  just 
strength  to  make  this  one  effort  to  save  a 
human  soul,  and  then  he  died.  We  buried 
our  shipmate  in  the  usual  sailor  fashion.  We 
wrapped  him  in  his  hammock,  with  a  can- 
non-ball at  his  feet,  to  sink  him.  The  cap- 
tain read  the  burial-service  at  the  gangway, 
and  then,  in  deep  silence,  we  committed  his 
corpse  to  the  deep. 


FIGHTING   THE   WHAIES. 


118 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

KEEPING  THE  SABBATH. 

npHE  death  of  poor  Fred  Borders  cast  a 
-*-  gloom  over  the  ship  for  many  days. 
Every  one  had  respected,  and  many  of  us 
had  loved  the  lad,  so  that  we  mourned  for 
him  long  and  truly.  But  a  sailor's  life  is 
such  a  rough  one,  requiring  so  much  energy 
and  hearty  good-will  to  his  work,  that  he 
cannot  afford  to  allow  the  sorrows  of  his 
heart  to  sit  long  on  his  countenance  In  a 
day  or  two  after  no  one  would  have  supposed 
we  had  lost  one  of  our  best  men.  Whales 
appeared  in  great  numbers  around  us.  The 
old  cry  of  "  There  she  blows !"  rang  out  fre- 
quently from  the  mast-head,  and  the  answer- 
ing cry  from  the  captain,  "  Where  away  ?" 
was  followed  by  the  "Stand  by  to  lower  ! — 
lower  away."  Then  came  the  chase,  with  all 
its  dangers  and  excitement — the  driving  of 
the  harpoon,  the  sudden  rush  of  the  struck 
fish,  the  smoke  and  sparks  of  fire  from  the 
logger-head,  the  plunging  of  the  lance,  the 


II 


114 


FrGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


spouting  blood,  the  ''flurry"  at  the  end,  and 
tlie  wild  cheer  as  we  beheld  our  prize  float- 
ing calmly  on  the  sea.  And  in  the  midst  of 
such  work  we  forgot  for  a  time  the  solemn 
scene  we  had  so  recently  witnessed.  But  our 
hearts  were  not  so  light  as  before,  and  al- 
though we  did  not  show  it,  I  knew  full  well 
that  many  a  joke  was  checked,  and  many 
a  laugh  repressed,  for  the  memory  of  our 
dead  shipmate. 

But  the  man  who  was  most  affected  by  his 
death  was  the  captain.  This  was  natural, 
and  did  not  surprise  us;  but  we  were  not 
prepared  for  the  great  change  that  soon  ap- 
peared in  hir  manner  and  conduct.  After  a 
time  he  laughed  with  the  rest  of  us  at  a  good 
joke,  and  cheered  as  loud  as  the  best  when  a 
big  fish  turned  belly  up,  but  his  behavior 
to  us  became  more  gentle  and  kind,  and  he 
entirely  gave  up  the  habit  of  swearing.  He 
also  forbade  working  on  Si  iay.  Many  a 
whale  have  I  seen  sporting  and  spouting  near 
us  on  that  day,  but  never  again  after  our 
shipmate's  death  did  we  lower  a  boat  or 
touch  a  harpoon  on  Sunday.  Some  of  the 
grumblers  used  to  swear  at  this,  and  Cv^m- 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


115 


plain  of  it 'to  each  other,  but  they  never  spoke 
so  as  to  let  the  captain  hear,  and  they  soon 
gave  up  their  grumbling,  for  the  most  of  us 
were  well  pleased  with  the  change,  and  all 
of  us  had  agreed  to  it. 

The  first  Sunday  after  Fred's  death,  the 
captain  assembled  the  crew  on  the  quarter- 
deck and  spoke  to  us  about  it. 

''  My  lads,"  said  he,  "  I've  called  you  aft 
to  make  a  proposal  thd,t  may  perhaps  sur- 
prise some  of  you.  Up  to  this  time,  you 
know  very  well,  there  has  been  little  differ- 
ence aboard  this  ship  between  Saturday  and 
Sunday.  Since  our  poor  shipmate  died  I 
have  been  thinkin'  much  on  tliis  matter,  and 
I've  come  to  the  conclusion  that  we  shall  rest 
from  all  work  on  the  Lord's-day,  except  such 
as  must  be  done  to  work  the  ship.  Now, 
lads,  you  know  me  well  enough  by  this  time. 
I  iiave  never  been  a  religious  man  all  my 
life,  and  I  don't  pretend  to  say  that  I'm  one 
now.  I'm  not  very  learned  on  this  matter, 
and  can't  explain  myself  very  well ;  but 
this  I  know,  that  in  time  past  I  have  neglected 
and  despised  my  Maker,  and  in  time  to  come 
I  mean  to  try  to  respect  him  and  obey  his 


116 


FIOHTING    THE    WHALES. 


«^< 


commandments.  When  poor  Fred  way 
dying,  he  asked  me  to  promii^e  that  I  would 
'believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  re- 
member the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.' 
I  did  promise,  and,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
I  mean  to  try.  Now,  what  think  you,  lads, 
shall  we  give  the  whales  a  rest  on  Sundays  ?" 

We  all  agreed  to  this  at  once,  for  the  effect 
of  the  captain's  speech  was  great  upon  us. 
It  was  not  so  much  what  he  said,  as  the  way 
in  which  he  said  it.  He  was  by  nature  a 
bold,  determined  man,  who  never  flinched 
from  danger  or  duty,  and  when  we  heard 
him  talking  in  that  way  we  could  scarcely 
believe  our  ears. 

This  was  all  that  was  said  about  the  matter 
between  us  and  the  captain,  but  we  had 
many ,  a  hot  discussion  in  the  forecastle 
amongst  ourselves  after  that.  Some  were  in 
favor  of  the  new  move,  and  said,  stoutly, 
that  the  captain  was  a  sensible  fellow. 
Others  said  he  was  becoming  an  old  wife, 
and  that  no  luck  would  follow  the  ship  if 
the  captain  became  a  parson  or  a  Methodist. 
In  the  course  of  time,  however,  we  found  the 
benefit  of  the  change  lu  every  way ;  and  the 


FIGHTING   THE  WHALES. 


117 


grumblers  were  silenced,  because,  in  spite  of 
their  wise  shakings  of  the  head,  we  filled  the 
ship  with  oil  as  full  as  she  could  hold,  much 
sooner  than  we  had  expected. 

And  now  that  I  am  on  this  subject,  I 
would  like  to  say  a  few  words,  to  show  that 
I  am  not  merely  inventing  a  tale  to  drag  in 
a  discussion  on  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath 
day.  To  manly  and  straightforward  minds 
it  is  a  pleasure  to  inquire  into  truth,  when- 
ever it  presents  itself  in  a  natural  way.  The 
keeping  of  Sunday  while  engaged  in  the 
whale-fishery  is  a  difficulty.  Men  have  found 
it  so,  and  have  said  that  the  thing  is  impos- 
sible. Other  men  have  found  it  difficult,  but 
have  said — and  have  proved — that  the  thing  is 
possible.  This  is-not  the  place  to  discuss  the 
great  Questions, — "Is  the  Sabbath  binding 
on  men  ?"  and  "  How  should  it  be  kept  ?"  I 
leave  that  to  abler  hands.  The  best  men  in 
the  land  have  said  ''  Yes"  to  the  first  ques- 
tion. That  is  sufficient  to  state  here.  But 
this  is  the  place  to  tell  of  what  whalemen  have 
said  on  this  great  question. 

There  is  nothing  like  experience.  Let  us 
consider  what  has  been  said  by  one  of  the 
greatest  whaling  captains  that  ever  lived,  in 


118 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


regard  to  his  experience.  It  was  many  years 
after  this  first  whaling  cruise  that  I  came  to 
hear  of  this  good  man. 

Captain  Scoresby,  who  died  at  a  ripe  old 
«ge  a  few  years  ago,  went  to  the  Greenland 
whale-fishery  when  quite  a  boy,  in  his  father's 
ship.  He  continued  in  that  fishery  for  many 
years,  and  was  very  successful.  His  school- 
ing when  young  was  thus  somewhat  inter- 
rupted, but  he  was  one  of  those  strong-minded, 
sturdy-hearted  men,  who  will  educate  them- 
selves in  spite  of  all  difficulties.  He  seized 
every  opportunity  of  acquiring  knowledge, 
and  at  last  became  one  of  the  great  and 
learned  men  of  his  day.  From  early  boy- 
hood he  was  seriously  minded,  and  he  after- 
wards became  a  decided  Christian.  He  had 
always  felt  a  strong  regard  for  the  Sabbath 
day,  and,  after  obtaining  command  of  a  ship 
in  the  whale-fishery,  he  resolved  to  keep  that 
day  holy. 

The  following  are  nearly  his  own  words 
on  this  subject,  and  they  are  well  worthy  of 
the  attention  of  all  thinking  men,  for  the 
man  who  uttered  them  was  a  hard-working 
practical  seaman,  who  knew  his  business 
well,  and  did  his  work  thoroughly. 


FIGHTING   THE  WHALES. 


119 


Captain  Scoresby  says : — "  Though  for 
several  of  the  latter  voyages  which  I  under- 
took to  the  northern  seas,  it  had  been  our 
rule  to  cease  as  much  as  possible  from  fish- 
ing on  the  Sabbath,  it  was  not  until  the  year 
1820  that  I  was  enabled  regularly  to  carry 
the  principle  into  effect.  But  in  that  year 
we  did  not  once  attempt  the  fishing  on  the 
sacred  day.  Several  of  the  harpooners  were 
much  displeased  with  this  rule  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  voyage,  for  they  had  such  a  stake 
in  the  success  of  the  fishery  that  the  capture 
of  a  single  large  whale  would  yield  them 
each  six  or  eight  pounds.  They  thought  it 
a  great  hardship  that,  whilst  other  ships  took 
advantage  of  the  seven  days  of  the  week,  we 
should  be  reduced  to  six.  The  chief  officer, 
at  the  outset,  was  very  much  annoyed  at 
having  to  waste  one  day  every  week  in  idle- 
ness, and  he  was  heard  to  say  that  if  we, 
under  such  disadvantages,  should  make  a 
successful  voyage,  he  would  then  believe 
there  was  indeed  something  like  a  blessing 
on  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath. 

*'  The  early  and  middle  part  of  the  voyage 
turned  out  very  unsuccessful.  Tovfaids  the 
11 


120 


riOHTINO    THE   WHALES. 


close  of  the  season  our  principles  -were 
severely  tested,  for  on  these  Sundays,  one 
after  the  other,  a  number  of  fine  whales  ap- 
peared most  invitingly  around  us.  But  in 
spite  of  this  temptation  to  '  hungry  fisher- 
men,' we  were  enabled  to  stick  to  our  prin- 
ciples, and  the  success  which  followed  was, 
I  believe,  looked  on  by  all  on  board  as  a 
special  blessing  from  God.  On  the  following 
Wednesday,  a  fine  fish  was  struck,  and  soon 
secured.  The  next  Lord's- day  was  one  of 
sanctified  and  happy  repose,  though  fish  were 
astir  near  us.  Early  in  the  week  we  were 
again  fortunate.  Strengthened  in  body  and 
spirits  by  rest,  and  blessed,  I  firmly  believe, 
by  Him  who  has  promised  His  blessing  to 
those  who  '  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy 
of  the  Lord,  honorable,''  we  killed  several 
whales  under  great  difficulties.  Two  were 
taken  on  Tuesriay,  and  another  on  Friday — 
the  value  of  the  three  being  about  £1600. 

"  A  day  of  sweet  and  welcome  repose  was 
the  succeeding  Sabbath.  A  genial  and  cloud- 
less atmosphere  cheered  the  spirits,  whilst  all 
nature,  sparkling  under  the  sun's  bright 
beams,  seemed  to  participate  in  the  gladness. 
Several  whales  sported  around  usj  but,  as 


ilGIITINQ   THE   WHALES. 


121 


far  as  we  were  concerned,  tliey  were  allowed  a 
Sabbath-day's  privilege  to  sport  undisturbed. 
The  men  were  now  accustomed  to  look  for 
a  blessing  on  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath." 

I  have  given  Mr.  Scoresby's  opinion  on 
this  point  at  some  length,  because,  coming 
from  such  a  man,  it  ought  to  have  much 
weight.  But,  after  all,  what  does  it  come 
to?  It  only  proves  the  old  truth,  that  God's 
ways  are  better  than  man's  ways,  and  that 
man  finds  his  greatest  success  and  his  highest 
happiness  in  keeping  the  commandments  of 
his  wise  and  good  Creator. 

Having  made  this  slight  but  earnest  at- 
tempt to  commend  this  subject  to  the  atten- 
tion of  my  readers,  I  turn  again  to  our  voyage, 
which  was  now  drawing  rapidly  to  a  close. 


CHAPTEK  X. 


NEWS   FROM   HOME — A  GAM. 

O  HOEEGOING  people  have  but  little  no- 
'^     tion  of  the  ease  with  which  the  heart 


m 


122 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


of  a  jack-tar  is  made  to  rejoice  when  he  is 
out  on  a  long  voyage.  His  pleasures  and 
amusements  are  so  few  that  he  is  thankful 
to  make  the  most  of  whatever  is  thrown  in 
his  way.  In  the  whale-fisheries,  no  doubt, 
he  has  more  than  enough  of  excitement,  but 
after  a  time  he  gets  used  to  this,  and  begins 
to  long  for  a  little  variety — and  of  all  the 
pleasures  that  fall  to  his  lot,  that  which  de- 
lights him  most  is  to  have  a  gam  with 
another  ship. 

Now,  a  gam  is  the  meeting  of  two  or  more 
whale-ships,  their  keeping  company  for  a 
time,  and  the  exchanging  of  visits  by  the 
crews.  It  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a 
jollification  on  the  sea, — the  inviting  of  your 
friends  to  feast  and  make  merry  in  your 
floating  house.  There  is  this  difference,  how- 
ever, between  a  gam  at  sea  and  a  party  on 
land,  that  jonr  friends  on  the  ocean  are  men 
whom  yoil  perhaps  never  saw  before,  and 
whom  you  will  likely  never  meet  again. 
There  is  also  another  difference — there  are 
no  ladies  at  a  gam.  This  is  a  great  want, 
for  man  is  but  a  rugged  creature  when  away 
from  the  refining  influence  of  woman ;  but 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


123 


i^  the  circumstances,  of  course,  it  can  t  be 
helped. 

We  had  a  gam  one  day,  on  this  voyage, 
with  a  Yankee  whale-ship,  and  a  first-rate 
gam  it  was,  for,  as  the  Yankee  had  gammed 
three  days  before  with  another  English  ship, 
we  got  a  lot  of  news  second-hand  ;  and,  as 
we  had  not  seen  a  new  face  for  many  months, 
we  felt  towards  those  Yankees  like  brothers, 
and  swallowed  all  they  had  to  tell  us  like 
men  starvini)^  for  news. 

It  was  on  a  fine,  calm  morning,  Just  after 
breakfast,  that  we  fell  in  with  th's  ship.  We 
had  seen  no  whales  for  a  day  or  two,  but  we 
did  not  mind  that,  for  our  hold  was  almost 
full  of  oil-barrels.  Tom  Logins  and  I  were 
leaning  over  the  starboard  bulwarks,  watch- 
ing the  small  fish  that  every  now  and  then 
darted  through  the  clear-blue  water  like 
arrows,  and  smoking  our  pipes  in  silence, 
Tom  looked  uncommonly  grave,  and  I  knew 
that  he  was  having  some  deep  and  knowing 
thoughts  of  his  own  which  would  leak  out 
in  time.  All  at  once  he  took  his  pipe  from 
his  mouth,  and  stared  earnestly  at  the  horizon. 

*'  Bob,"  said  he,  speaking  very  slowly, 
11* 


124 


FIGHTING    THE    WHALES. 


*'  if  there  ain't  a  ship  right  off  the  starboard 
beam,  I'm  a  Dutchman." 

**  You  don't  mean  it !"  said  I,  starting  with 
a  feeling  of  excitement. 

Before  another  word  could  be  uttered,  the 
cry  of  "  Sail  ho !"  came  ringing  down  from 
the  mast-head.  Instantly  the  quiet  of  the 
morning  was  broken ;  sleepers  sprang  up 
and  rubbed  their  eyes,  the  men  below  rushed 
wildly  up  the  hatchway,  the  cook  came  tear- 
ing out  of  his  own  private  den,  flourish iug  a 
soup-ladle  in  one  hand  and  his  tormentors  in 
the  other,  the  steward  came  tumbling  up 
with  a  lump  of  dough  in  his  fist  that  he  had 
forgot  to  throw  down  in  his  haste,  and  the 
captain  bolted  up  from  the  cabin  without  his 
hat. 

"  Where  away  ?"  cried  he,  with  more  than 
his  usual  energy. 

"  Eight  off  the  starboard  beam,  sir." 

''Square  the  yards!  Look  alive,  my  heart- 
ies," was  the  next  order;  for  although  the 
calm  sea  was  like  a  sheet  of  glass,  a  light 
air,  just  sufficient  to  fill  our  top-gallant  sails, 
enabled  us  to  creep  through  the  water. 

'*  Hurrah  I"  shouted  the  men,  as  we  sprang 
to  obey. 


FIGHTING  THE   WHALES. 


125 


"  What  does  she  look  like  ?"  roared  the 
captain.  * 

''A  big  ship^  sir,  I  think,''  replied  the 
look-out ;  ^*  but  I  can  only  just  make  out  the 
top  of  her  main  t-gallan'  s'l." — (Sailors  scorn 
to  speak  of  top-gallant  sails.)         <  '  ■^■. 

Gradually,  one  by  one,  the  white  sails  of 
the  stranger  rose  up  like  cloudlets  out  of  the 
sea,  a  our  hearts  beat  high  with  hope  and 
expectation,  as  we  beheld  the  towering  can- 
vas of  a  full-rigged  ship  rise  ^owly  into 
view. 

"Show  our  colors,"  said  the  captain. 

In  a  moment  the  Union  Jack  of  Old  Eng- 
land was  waving  at  the  mast-head  in  the 
gentle  breeze,  and  we  watched  anxiously  for 
a  reply.  The  stranger  was  polite ;  his  colors 
flew  up  a  moment  after,  and  displayed  the 
Stripes  and  Sta^s  of  America. 

"  A  Yankee !"  exclaimed  some  of  the  men, 
in  a  tone  of  slight  disappointment. 

I  may  remark,  that  our  disappointment 
arose  simply  from  the  fact  that  there  was  no 
chance,  as  we  supposed,  of  getting  news  from 
*^  home"  out  of  a  ship  that  must  have  sailed 
last  from  America.    For  the  rest,  we  cared 


126 


FIGHTING    THE   W/IALES. 


not  whether  they  were  Yankees  or  Britons — 
they  were  men  who  could  speak  the  English 
tongue,  that  was  enough  for  us. 

''  Never  mind;  boys,"  cried  one,  ''  we'll 
have  a  jolly  gam ;  that's  a  fact." 

"So  we  will,"  said  another,  ''and  I'll  get 
news  of  my  mad  Irish  cousin,  Terrence 
O'Flannagan,  who  went  out  to  seek  his 
fortin  in  "Ameriky  with  two  shillin's  and  a 
broken  knife  in  his  pocket,  and  it's  been  said 
he's  got  into  a  government  situation  o'  some 
sort  connected  with  the  jails, — whether  as 
captain  or  leftenant  o^  police,  or  turnkey, 
I'm  not  rightly  sure."  .      .'  .  ^^ 

''  More  likely  as  a  life-tenant  of  one  of  the 
cells,"  observed  Bill  Blunt,  laughing. 

"Don't  speak  ill  of  a  better  man  than 
yerself  behind  his  back,"  retorted  the  owner 
of  the  Irish  cousin.     •   r^    .   ;'  •  •« 

"  Stand  by  to  lower  the  jolly-boat,"  cried 
the  captain.      '  .  • 

''Ay,  ay,  sir."  ^;  ;',*:'; 

"Lower  away!"      ..)[:[_    .■•'*'''** 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  leaping  over 
the  calm  sea  in  the  direction  of  the  strange 
ship,  for  the  breeze  had  died  down,  and  we 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


127 


were  too  eager  to  meet  with  new  faces  and 
to  hear  the  sound  of  new  voices,  to  wait  for 
the  wind.  * 

To  our  joy  we  found  that  the  Yankee  had 
had  a  gam  (as  I  have  already  said)  with  an 
English  ship  a  few  days  before,  so  we  re- 
turned to  our  vessel  loaded  with  old  news- 
papers from  England,  having  invited  the 
captain  and  crew  of  the  Yankee  to  come 
aboard  of  us  and  spend  the  day. 

While  preparation  was  being  made  for  the 
reception  of  our  friends,  we  got  hold  of  two 
of  the  old  newspapers,  and  Tom  Lokins 
seized  one,  while  Bill  Blunt  got  the  other, 
and  both  men  sat  down  on  the  windlass  to 
retail  the  news  to  a  crowd  of  eager  men  who 
tried  hard  to  listen  to  both  at  once,  and  so 
could  make  nothing  out  of  either. 

'^  Hold  hard,  Tom  Lokins,"  cried  one 
"  What's  that  you  say  about  the  Emperor 
Bill?" 

"  The  Emperor  of  Roosia,''  said  Bill  Blunt 
reading  slowly,  and  with  difficulty,  "is — 
stop  a  bit,  messmates,  wot  can  this  word  be  I 
— the  Emperor  of  Roosia  is — " 

''Blowed  np  with  gunpowder,  and  shat- 


128 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


tored  to  a  thousand  pieces,"  said  Tom  Lokins, 
raising  his  voice  with  excitement,  as  he  read 
from  his  paper  an  account  of  the  blowing  up 
of  a  mountain  fortress  in  India, 

"Oh !  come,  I  say,  one  at  a  time,  if  you 
please,"  cried  a  harpooner ;  ''  a  feller  can^t 
git  a  word  of  sense  out  of  sich  a  jumble." 

"Come,  messmates,"  cried  two  or  three 
voices,  as  Tom  stopped  suddenly,  and  looked 
hard  at  the  paper,  "go  ahead!  wot  have  ye 
got  there  that  makes  ye  look  as  wise  as  an 
owl  ?  Has  war  been  and  broke  out  with  the 
French  ?" 

''I  do  believe  he's  readin'  the  births,  mar 
riages,  and  deaths,"  said  one  of  the  men, 
peeping  over  Tom's  shoulder. 

"  Read  'em  out,  then,  can't  ye  ?"  cried  an- 
other. 

"  I  say,  Bill  Blunt,  I  think  this  consarns 
2/ow,"  cried  Tom;  "isn't  your  sweetheart's 
name  Susan  Croft  ?" 

"  That's  a  fact,"  said  Bill,  looking  up  from 
his  paper,  "  and  who  has  got  a  word  to  say 
agin  the  prettiest  lass  in  all  Liverpool  ?" 

"  Nobody's  got  a  word  to  say  against  her," 
replied  Tom ;  "  but  she's  married,  that's  all.'* 


FIGHTING   THE  WHALES. 


129 


Bill  Blunt  leaped  up  as  if  be  had  been 
shot,  and  the  blood  rushed  to  his  face,  as  he 
seized  the  paper,  and  tried  to  find  the  place. 

"  Where  is  it,  Tom  ?  let  me  see  it  with  my 
own  two  eyes.     Oh,  here  it  is !" 

The  poor  man's  face  grew  paler  and  paler 
as  he  read  the  following  words : — 

^^  Married,  at  Liverpool,  on  the  5th  inst., 
by  the  Kev.  Charles  Manson,  Edward  Gor- 
don, Esq.,  to  Susan,  youngest  daughter  of 
Admiral  Croft — " 

A  perfect  roar  of  laughter  drowned  the 
remainder  of  the  sentence. 

''Well  done,  Bill  Blunt— Mister  Blunt, 
we'll  have  to  call  him  hereafter,"  said  Tom, 
with  a  grim  smile;  '*Ihad  no  notion  you 
thought  so  much  o'  yourself  as  to  aim  at  an 
admiral's  daughter." 

''  All  right,  my  hearties,  chaff  away !"  said 
Bill,  fetching  a  deep  sigh  of  relief,  while  a 
broad  grin  played  on  his  weather-beaten 
visage.  **  There's  two  Susan  Crofts,  that's 
all ;  but  I  wouldn't  give  my  Susan  for  all 
the  admiral's  daughters  that  ever  walked  in 
shoe-leather." 

"HaPo!  here  come  the  Yankees/'  cried 


130 


FIGHTING   THE   "WHALES. 


the  captain,  coming  on  deck  at  that  mo 
ment.  , 

Our  newspapers  were  thrown  down  at 
once,  and  we  prepared  to  receive  our  guests, 
who,  we  could  see,  had  just  put  off  from 
their  ship  in  two  boats.  But  before  they 
had  come  within  a  mile  of  us,  their  atten- 
tion, as  well  as  ours,  was  riveted  on  a  most 
extraordinary  sight. 

Not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  ahead  of 
our  ship,  a  whale  came  suddenly  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  seeming,  by  its  wild  mo- 
tions, to  be  in  a  state  of  terror.  It  continued 
for  some  time  to  struggle,  and  lash  the  whole 
sea  around  it  into  a  white  foam. 

At  once  the  boats  were  lowered  from  both 
ships,  and  we  went  after  this  fish,  but  his 
motions  were  so  violent  that  we  found  it 
utterly  impossible  to  get  near  enough  to 
throw  a  harpoon.  When  we  had  approached 
somewhat  closely,  we  discovered  that  it  had 
been  attacked  by  a  killer  fish,  which  was 
fully  twenty  feet  long,  and  stuck  to  it  like  a 
leech.  The  monster's  struggles  were  made 
in  trying  to  shake  itself  free  of  this  tremen- 
dous enemy,  but  it  could  not  accomplish 


FIGIITINQ    THE   WHALES. 


131 


this.  The  killer  held  him  by  the  under  jaw, 
and  hung  on  there,  while  the  whale  threw 
himself  out  of  the  water  in  his  agony,  with 
his  great  mouth  open,  like  a  huge  cavern, 
and  the  blood  flowing  so  fast  from  the  wound 
that  the  sea  was  dyed  for  a  long  distance 
round.  This  killer  fought  like  a  bull-dog. 
It  held  on  until  the  whale  was  exhausted, 
but  they  passed  away  from  us  in  such  a  con- 
fused struggle  that  a  harpoon  could  not  be 
fixed  for  an  hour  after  we  first  saw  them. 
On  this  being  done,  the  killer  let  go,  and  the 
whale,  being  already  half  dead,  was  soon 
killed. 

The  Yankee  boats  were  the  first  to  come 
up  with  this  fish,  so  the  prize  belongec^  to 
them.  We  were  well  pleased  at  this,  as  we 
could  afford  to  let  them  have  it,  seeing  that 
we  could  scarcely  have  found  room  to  stow 
away  the  oil  in  our  hold.  It  was  the  Yan- 
kees' first  fish,  too,  so  they  were  in  great 
spirits  about  it,  and  towed  it  to  their  ship, 
singing  "  Yankee-doodle"  with  all  their 
might. 

As  they  passed   our  boat,    the    captain 
hailed  them. 
12 


132 


FIGIITINO    THE    WHALES. 


"  I  wisli  you  joy  of  your  first  fish,  sir," 
said  he  to  the  Yankee  captain. 

"  Thank  you,  stranger.  I  guess  Wv^'re  in 
luck,  though  it  aint  a  big  one.  I  say,  what 
sort  o'  brute  was  that  that  had  hold  of  him? 
Never  seed  sich  a  crittur  in  all  my  life." 

'He's  a  killer,"  said  our  captain. 

*^A  killer!  Guess  he  just  is,  and  no  mis- 
take, if  we  hadn't  helped  him,  h^'d  have  done 
the  job  for  himself!  What  does  he  kill  him 
for?" 

"  To  eat  him,  but  I'm  told  he  only  eats  the 
tongue.  You'll  not  forget  that  you've  pro- 
mised to  gam  with  us  to-night,"  cried  our 
captain,  as  they  were  about  to  commence 
pulling  again. 

"All  right,  stranger,  one  half  will  come 
to-night,  before  sundown;  t'other  half  to- 
morrow, if  the  calm  holds,  (jood-day.  Give 
way,  lads." 

The  men  dipped  their  oars,  and  resumed 
their  song,  while  we  pulled  back  to  our  ship. 
We  did  not  offer  to  help  them,  because  the 
fish  was  a  small  one,  and  the  distance  they 
had  to  go  not  great. 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


133 


It  was  near  sunset  wlien,  according  to 
promise,  the  Yankees  came  on  board,  and 
spent  a  long  evening  with  us.  They  were  a 
free,  open-hearted,  boastful,  conceited,  good- 
humoured  set  of  fellows,  and  a  jolly  night 
we  had  of  it  in  the  forecastle,  while  the  mates 
and  captains  were  enjoying  themselves,  and 
spinning  their  yarns  in  the  cabin. 

Of  course,  we  began  with  demands  for 
home  news,  and,  when  we  had  pumped  out 
of  them  every  drop  they  had,  we  began  to 
songs  and  spinning  yarns.  And  it  was  now 
that  my  friend  Tom  Lokins  came  out  strong, 
and  went  on  at  such  a  rate,  that  he  quite  won 
the  hearts  of  our  guests.  Tom  was  not  noisy, 
and  he  was  slow  in  his  talk,  but  he  had  the 
knack  of  telling  a  good  story ;  he  never  used 
a  wrong  word,  or  a  word  too  many,  and, 
having  a  great  deal  of  humor,  men  could  not 
help  listening  when  he  began  to  ta\k. 

After  this  we  had  a  dance,  and  here  I  be- 
came useful,  being  able  to  play  Scotch  reels 
and  Irish  jigs  on  the  fiddle.  Then  we  had 
songs  and  yarns  again.  Some  could  tell  of 
furious  fights  with  whales  that  made  our 


134 


FIOIITINO    THE   WHALES. 


blood  boil ;  others  could  talk  of  the  green 
fields  at  home,  until  we  almost  fancied  we 
were  boys  again ;  and  some  could  not  tell 
stories  at  all.  They  had  little  to  sa}^  and 
that  little  they  said  ill ;  and  I  noticed  that 
many  of  those  who  were  perfect  bores  would 
cry  loudest  to  be  heard,  though  none  of  us 
wanted  to  hear  them.  We  used  to  quench 
such  fellows  by  calling  loudly  for  a  song 
with  a  rousing  chorus. 

It  was  not  till  the  night  was  far  spent,  and 
the  silver  moon  was  sailing  through  the 
starry  sky,  that  the  Yankees  left  us,  and 
rowed  aw':y  with  a  parting  cheer. 


FIQHTINQ   TUE   WHALES. 


135 


CHAPTER  XI. 


RETURN    HOME. 

STX  months  after  our  ''gam"  with  tho 
Yankees  Tom  Lokins  and  I  found  our- 
selves seated  onee  more  in  the  little  garret 
beside  my  dear  old  mother. 

"  Deary  me,  Robert,  how  changed  ye  are  ?" 

"  Changed,  mother !  I  should  think  so ! 
If  you'd  gone  through  all  that  I've  done  and 
seen  since  we  last  sat  together  in  tliis  room, 
you'd  be  changed  too." 

"  And  have  ye  reall}'*  seen  the  whales,  my 
boy  ?"  continued  my  mother,  stroking  my 
face  with  her  old  hand. 

• "  Seen  them  ?  ay.  and  killed  them  too- 
many  of  them." 

"  You've  been  in  danger,  my  son,"  said 
my  mother  earnestly,  "but  the  Lord  has  pre- 
served you  safe  through  it  all." 

"  Ay,  mother,  He  has  preserved  my  life  in 
the  midst  of  many  dangers,"  said  I,  "  for 
which  I  am  most  thankful ;  but  he  has  done 
more  than  that.  He  has  preserved  my  soul 
in  the  midst  of  dangers  of  a  far  wors^  kind 
12* 


136 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


than  one's  body  falls  in  with  while  fighting 
the  whales.  I'll  tell  ye  of  that  some  other 
time  when  we  v.r^.  alone." 

There  was  a  short  silence  after  this,  during 
which  my  mother  and  i  gazed  earnestly  at 
each  other,  and  Tom  Lokins  smoked  his  pipe 
and  stared  at  the  fire. 

"Kobert,  how  big  is  a  whale?"  inquired 
my  mother,  suddenly. 

*'How  big?  why,  it's  as  big  as  a  small 
ship,  only  it's  longer,  and  not  quite  so  fat." 

''Kobert,"  replied  my  mother,  gravely, 
"  ye  didn't  use  to  tell  untruths ;  ye  must  be 
jokin'." 

''Joking,  mother,  I  was  never  more  in 
earnest  in  my  life.  Why,  I  tell  you  that 
I've  seen,  ay,  and  helped  to  cut  up,  whales  • 
that  were  more  than  sixty  feet  long,  with 
heads  so  big  that  their  mouths  could  have* 
taken  in  a  boat.  Why,  mother,  I  declare  to 
you  that  you.  could  put  this  room  into  a 
whale's  mouth,  and  you  and  Tom  and  I 
could  sit  round  this  table  and  take  our  tea 
upon  his  tongue  quite  comfortable.  Isn't 
that  true,  Tom  ?" 

My  mother  looked  at  Tom,  who  removed 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


137 


his  pipe,  puffed  a  cloud  of  smoke,  and  nodded 
his  head  twice  very  decidedly. 

*' Moreover,"  said  I,  "a  whale  is  so  big 
and  strong  that  it  can  knock  a  boat  right  up 
into  the  air,  and  break  in  the  sides  of  a  ship. 
One  day  a  whale  fell  right  on  top  of  one  of 
our  boats  and  smashed  it  all  to  bits.  Now, 
that's  a  real  truth !" 

Again  my  mother  looked  at  Tom  Lokins, 
and  again  that  worthy  man  puffed  an  im- 
mense cloud  of  smoke,  and  nodded  his  head 
more  decidedly  than  before.  Being  anxious 
to  put  to  flight  all  her  doubts  at  once,  he 
said,  solemnly,  '*  Old  ooman,  that's  a  fact  I" 

"Eobevrt,"  said  my. mother,  ''tell  me  some- 
thing about  the  whales." 

Just  as  she  said  this  the  door  opened,  and 
in  came  the  good  old  gentleman  with  the 
nose  like  nis  cane-knob,  and  with  as  kind  a 
heart  as  ever  beat  in  a  human  breast.  My 
mother  had  already  told  me  that  he  came  to 
see  her  regularly  once  a  week,  ever  since  I 
went  to  sea,  except  in  summer,  when  he  was 
away  ^n  the  country,  and  that  he  had  never 
allowed  her  to  want  for  anything.  My  mo- 
ther one  day  said  to  him,  "  I  wonder,  sir, 


138 


FIGHTINO    THE    WHALES. 


why  ye  take  so  much  thought  for  a  poor  olc 
body  like  me;"  to  which  he  replied,  "God 
tells  me.  'Blessed  are  they  that  consider  the 
poor.'  As  I  want  God's  blessing,  this  is  one 
of  the  means  I  take  to  get  it ;  so  you  see," 
said  he,  with  a  smile,  "  I'm  a  selfish  old  fel- 
low, for  I'm  thinking  of  myself  as  well  aft 
you." 

I  need  scarcely  say  that  there  was  a  hearty 
meeting  between  us  three,  and  that  we  had 
much  to  say  to  each  other.  But  in  the  midsl 
of  it  all,  my  mother  turned  to  the  old  gen- 
tleman, and  said — 

"  Eobert  was  just  going  to  tell  me  some- 
thing about  his  adventures  with  the  wLales." 

"  That's  capital !"  cried  the  old  gentleman, 
rubbing  his  hands.  "  Come,  Bob,  my  boy, 
let's  hear  about  'em." 

Being  thus  invited,  I  consented  to  spin 
them  a  yarn.  The  old  gentleman  settled 
himself  in  his  chair,  my  rpother  smoothed 
her  apron,  folded  her  hands,  and  looked 
meekly  into  my  face.  Tom  Lokins  filled 
his  pipe,  stretched  out  his  foot  to  poke  the 
fire  with  the  toe  of  his  shoe,  and  began  to 
smoke  like  a  steam-engine;  then  I  cleared 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


139 


my  throat,  and  began  my  tale,  and  before  I 
had  done  talking  that  night,  I  had  told  them 
all  that  I  have  told  in  this  little  book  to  you, 
good  reader,  almost  word  for  word. 

Thus  ended  my  first  voyage  to  the  South 
Seas.  Many  and  many  a  trip  have  I  made 
since  then,  and  many  a  wonderful  sight  have 
I  seen,  both  in  the  south  and  in  the  north. 
But  if  I  were  to  write  an  account  of  all  my 
adventures,  my  little  book  would  grow  into 
a  big  one ;  I  must  therefore  come  to  a  close. 

The  profits^  of  this  voyage  were  so  great, 
that  I  was  enabled  to  place  my  mother  in  a 
position  of  comfort  for  the  rest  of  her  life, 
which,  alas !  was  very  short.  She  died  about 
six  months  after  my  return.  I  nursed  her 
to  the  end,  and  closed  her  eyes.  The  last 
word  she  uttered  was  her  Saviour's  name. 
She  died,  as  she  had  lived,  trusting  in  the 
Lord ;  and  when  I  laid  her  dear  head  in  the 
grave  my  heart  seemed  to  die  within  me,  for 
I  felt  that  I  had  lost  one  of  God's  most  pre- 
cious gifts — an  honest,  gentle,  pious  mother. 

I'm  getting  to  be  an  old  man,  now,  but, 
through  the  blessing  of  God,  I  am  comfort- 


140 


FIGHTING   THE   WHALES. 


able  and  bappy.  As  I  bave  more  tnati 
enougb  of  tbis  world's  goods,  and  no  family 
to  care  for,  my  cbief  occupation  is  to  look 
after  tbe  poor,  and  particularly  tbe  old  wo- 
men wbo  live  in  my  neigbborhood  After 
tbe  work  of  tbe  day  is  done,  I  generally  go 
and  spend  tbe  evening  witb  Tom  Lokins, 
wbo  lives  near  by,  and  is  stout  and  bearty 
still ;  or  be  comes  and  spends  it  witb  me, 
and  wbile  we  smoke  our  pipes  togetber,  we 
often  fall  to  talking  about  tbose  stirring  days 
wben,  in  tbe  strengtb  and  bope  of  youtb,  we 
sailed  togetber  to  tbe  Soutb  Seas,  and  took 
to — -fighting  the  Whales, 


THE  END, 


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